Didn't Stand a Chance (At All)
by Veritable-Wasteland
Summary: Roxas likes his privacy and has somewhat adapted to the life of an unrecognized musical talent. Axel is a loudmouth who doesn't give a flying Fig Newton about what anyone thinks about him. He just wants attention and musical glory. Xion thinks the two of them are perfect for each other. Reality, begs to differ. Axel and Roxas and their musical shenanigans, ensue. Rated for language
1. On and On

Didn't Stand a Chance (At All)

* * *

A/N: Hello, Cool Kids of the Internet. This is my first full-length multi-chapter story I've attempted in years and I'm so excited about it. You might want to take note that I'm going to be throwing out a lot of songs and artists of various genres. I promise it won't be a distracting thing, so don't worry your pretty (or handsome) little heads. I also apologize in advance if I offend anyone's fragile sensibilities with my language.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an extremely diverse iPod and a very eclectic taste in music.

Songs mentioned: Somewhere In Neverland by All Time Low, On and On by Erykah Badu and What Is It About Men by Amy Winehouse.

If you don't know these folks, do yourself a favor, and change that.

* * *

Chapter 1: On and On

* * *

"This. Is. Capital. Fuckery." Roxas grumbled before tossing his pencil onto the desk, the hollow wood made a soft plunking sound as the two collided. He brushed his hand through his messy blond locks as he scooped up his iPod, before moving over to his bed to plop face down onto a soft white pillow. Roxas loved going to class, but homework always felt like some sort of soul sucking torture to him. It slowly ate away at his last few veins of sanity.

It didn't help that this particular class was nothing more than mindless memorization. Honestly, when the hell would an English major ever need to know where the sternocleidomastoid muscle was located? (Though he did take pride in knowing that, that was in fact located in the neck.)

Prerequisites were nothing but hell, and Anatomy was beginning to take the shape of the devil.

Without lifting his head, Roxas shoved his earbuds into his ears and sighed letting the sounds of guitars and drums overtake him. He outstretched his hands to the headboard of his bed, tracing the chords he heard, on the cool metal. He was so close to being able to play this song on his own guitar, in two more weeks and he'd have it down. Sure, he could always go and Google the chords but that sucked out all of the fun and excitement he got from figuring it out on his own. That feeling of exuberance when he could match with the recording, exactly.

"Ahh, so we're procrastinating again, are we?" A male's voice broke through his concentration causing the unsuspecting college student to flip over and off of the bed, landing butt first onto the floor.

The blond looked up to find his twin, Sora, hovering over him and laughing hysterically. His untameable brown spiked hair scraping against his forehead. The earbuds that were previously in his ears, were now dangling from his assailant's hands.

"Didn't we have a conversation about sneaking up on people? Heart attacks tend to make living organisms die, you know." Roxas scowled as he tended to his sore bottom.

"No, we had a discussion about scaring old people, not about you." Sora corrected, sticking out a hand to help. Roxas swatted it away, snatched back his earphones and climbed back up onto his bed. He wasted no time shoving his face back into the indentation he'd made into the pillow.

"What are you doing back here so early anyway?" Roxas asked, raising his head after several failed attempts to get back into his zone. He rolled his eyes at his brother who had once again invaded Roxas' side of the dorm, and was currently poking around his desk.

"Class ended early." Sora replied simply, before sitting in his sibling's chair and spinning around in it.

"No club meetings today?"

Sora nodded before answering. "But that ended early too. The club president had an appointment and took off extra early for something so we all just left."

Roxas nodded, indicating he understood. He rolled over on the bed, linking his hands together like a cradle before placing his head into it. He stared at the ceiling for a short while, imagining musical notes were etched into its white surface.

"You should come with me next time."

The blonde boy scoffed. "Yeah, when porcupines start burping the alphabet."

Sora stopped spinning to blink at his brother. "Can a porcupine burp?"

The blonde let a half-laugh escape his lips. "Why don't you go ask one and tell me what they say."

It was Sora's turn to roll his eyes. He thought to expand on how illogical that idea was before realizing it was probably another, "let's see if we can trick Sora into saying something foolish", situations that he'd never live down. There was a beat of silence sans the sound of Sora's foot colliding with the desk every now and then as he continued his spinning endeavors.

"What song were you practicing?"

The lethargic boy's head shot up, a small smile on his lips.

"Somewhere in Neverland."

"All Time Low?"

Roxas nodded.

"I knew it." Sora smiled back. "Play it for me!" Sora bounced up out of the chair and ran over to over to the other side of their dorm to grab Roxas' guitar out of the closet, being careful as to not knock over his own.

The brothers had an affinity for music that their mother noticed early on. Roxas was always running around the house in his socks with his air guitar and Sora would take cake beaters and beat on the backs of pots and pans. The pair would then scream nonsensical lyrics to the top of their lungs. Though they never agreed on what the lyrics were before they actually began their shouting. In order to maintain the sanity of both the Strife brothers' parents and neighbors, they were enrolled in piano class at the age of 5.

They were promptly kicked out two weeks later, something about Roxas and his air guitar, and Sora only wanting to play with the different sounds the keyboard, which the instructor also owned, made. They couldn't recall the full story themselves.

As the two got older however, they taught themselves how to play both piano and guitar. Sora learned to play by ear, being much too eager to actually sit and learn how to read musical notes like Roxas. They also learned to sing as their voices matured. While both boys could hold their own vocally, there was something about Roxas' voice that made him stand out. When Roxas sang, people listened.

"I'm not really..." Roxas began, looking down at his instrument, an unsure expression scrawled across his features.

"Oh, come on, it's just a preview. I'll sing back up." Sora was nearly tap dancing now.

"Fine. Fine. Jeez, chill out before you pee yourself."

Sora executed his extreme level of maturity by sticking his tongue out, which earned him his second eye roll of the afternoon. Roxas positioned his hands on his guitar before starting his favorite part, the chorus, to get a feel of the song. The two went through the song a couple of times, the brunette taking notes on when and how his brother made chord changes, so he could do it himself.

"I really wish you'd perform again." Sora half-sighed as Roxas got to the line about being a "lost boy", causing the music to cease.

It was perfectly clear to Sora that Roxas belonged on the stage. Not in some stuffy little dorm room with bad acoustics. His twin was talented and there was absolutely no denying that.

"I told you, I'm not accommodating to a town that won't accommodate me."

"But Rox, that was then. We're in a new place with new people. Open minded people. If I can find a place, then you can."

"You're straight, Sora. Of course you can find a fucking place." Roxas lowered his guitar on his bed, the mood for music effectively really didn't want to start another one of these stillborn conversations.

Sora looked over at his brother and desperately reached for a rebuttal, but came up dry. The two jumped a little at the sudden five knocks that sounded in rapid succession at their door. The two looked at each other, the corners of their mouth turning upwards at the familiar sound. The tension that had laced itself around the oxygen in the room, quickly dispelling.

"What's the password?" The two asked in unison.

"If we were made in his image then call us by our names." A female voice sang from the other side.

"It's open." Roxas called, a full blown smile had crawled across his face before the words could fully leave his lips. The door opened to reveal a petite, raven-haired young woman. Her hair was cut short and the intense blue colored of her eyes, blended with the perfect cerulean blue of the Strife brothers. The password she'd sang had been an idea of Roxas' back in their Junior year of high school, he felt the Erykah Badu lyrics fit their little club of misfits, better than a glove.

"Ooooh, guitar time?" She asked, taking note of the guitar before going over and ruffling through Roxas' incomplete homework.

"Gotta love how you saunter in here without so much as a formal 'hello', Xion." Roxas grumbled.

Xion smiled widely before running over and gathering the two in a big hug.

"Oh, Rox I've missed your surly attitude so. How are things? How's life? How's that stick up your butt, not causing infection I hope."

Roxas smacked her with a pillow, effectively ending the air restricting hug, before responding. "Yes, I've missed your cheap perfume, your lame insults and your unfiltered manner of talking, so much these past two days, that my soul can hardly stand it."

Xion let the brothers go and taking a spot on the already crowded bed, before sticking her tongue out at Roxas, showing just how far the level of maturity spread amongst those in their small little group. "Hatin' ass zero."

The blonde hit her with the pillow again. "It's getting crowded up here, and you're in my bubble."

"It's been popped," Xion replied before snatching the pillow from the grumpy twin's grasp. "Unlike your cherry, I'm sure. When _is_ the last time you were on a date, anyway?"

"February 30th if you must know," Roxas replied dryly, desperately wishing he had his pillow back so he could beat the woman into silence. "You really need change the filter between your mouth and brain. It's letting unnecessary shit slip through."

"Wait, there's a February 30th?" Sora asked somewhat quietly.

Roxas and Xion looked over at the brunette with questioning looks. His gaze was set upon a small area on the wall as if it held the answers her was looking for.

"Yes, but only on Leap Years." Roxas answered, scuffling to keep the laughter from shaking his voice.

Xion, on the other hand was unable to hold it in and doubled over on the bed laughing.

These were the moments that Roxas lived for. When the three of them were together, it was like they could tell the rest of the world to fuck off. Roxas and Sora met Xion through another friend of theirs, Kairi, back in their freshmen year. Xion was part of the school band as a drummer and quite the commodity, as the only female drummer.

They all hit it off tremendously and formed a little band/club. They called themselves Dream. Drop. Distance. They were a hit at all the talent shows and parties they performed at until the end of Sophomore year, when the proverbial shit hit the fan. That was when Roxas decided to start their set by singing his version any Amy Winehouse classic: _What Is It About Men_ keeping all the pronouns in tact. When he got around to the chorus, he and his bandmates were violently boo-ed off of the stage.

People quickly realized that singing that song was his was way of coming out publicly.

In a matter of hours, he went from being the school's Princess Diana to the 2012 version of Lindsay Lohan. Finding the word 'Fag' scrawled across his locker or being locked out of the boy's locker room was mere child's play to the daily fights he found himself in. High school had been hell on the blonde in more ways than one.

It took about two full minutes of Sora scowling to finally end Xion's and Roxas' laughing fit.

"Oh, my soul, that was hilarious." Roxas coughed, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.

"Yeah, yeah, new topic please." Sora pouted, crossing his arms giving him the full preschooler appearance. Xion cooed at the petite brunette, pinching his cheeks playfully, earning nothing more than cross looks and language that was very unlike the usually upbeat man.

"Fine, let's go back to my previous question. Guitar time?" Xion offered, ruffling the brunette's messy spikes as a gesture of good will.

"Well it was, until Sora ruined it."

Xion raised a dark eyebrow and turned to the other twin. "Oh?"

"I didn't ruin a thing," Sora began defending himself. "All I did was bring up the subject of performing."

"Ooooh, did you finally get him to crack?" Xion asked her interest piqued.

"No, he most certainly did not crack, and _he _is sitting right here, so don't talk about _him_ like he isn't here, you rectum." Roxas grumbled, taking his turn to pout a little.

"Aw, look at you, using your anatomy knowledge," Xion clucked jokingly. "But seriously, Dream. Drop. Distance. plus comeback, equals?"

Roxas shrugged, feeling very uncomfortable. "I don't know." He answered quietly.

"I figured you'd say that." Xion answered, her facial expression softening as she got a good look at the sincere sadness in her best friend's eyes. She reached a hand out and touched his shoulder.

"Look Rox, if you let those vermin run you from doing what you love the most, then aren't you just letting them win?"

Roxas shrugged again suddenly finding words to be a burden, the stitching on his shirt suddenly becoming his eyes newest fixation.

"All we're saying bro," Sora started. "is that you're an awesome musician and that's nothing to hide. I miss that look you'd get when you got on a stage. Old wounds heal. Sometimes the best way to get over an emotionally scarring situation is by putting yourself out there, even if it results in pain again."

Roxas looked at his brother with a smirk. "That sounds incredibly counterproductive."

Sora donned a look of confusion. "I thought we were talking about music. I hardly see what producing counters has to do with anything."

Roxas stared back at his twin with a slack-jawed expression. Sometimes Roxas had to wonder if they're mother smoked something before she knew she was pregnant with them. With the things the brunette said, he had to wonder how on earth they managed to get identical SAT scores.

Xion shook her head. "What I think your brother is trying to say, though I'm sure only God can really be sure of what goes in that busy little head of his, is that, music is your life. You see this?" She asked before picking up his guitar and placing it in his hands. "You live and breathe for this shit. Don't let a bunch of high school asshats, let _you_ forget that. You don't have to decide today, but know that the band is ready to stand behind their frontman when he's ready." Xion smiled, before pulling the blonde into a half hug. Roxas smiled back for a beat before pulling away.

"Okay, enough of this sappy sweet stuff I'm going to need an insulin shot if things keep going at this rate." Sora teased, nudging his brother with his elbow.

"I agree, fully." Roxas nudged back."So, I've been meaning to ask you, Xion." The dark-haired woman looked over at him, giving him her full attention. Roxas continued. "What are you doing here? I thought you had register duty over at The Cafe That Never Was."

"Oh, I do, in like, twenty minutes, but I had something I wanted to show and/or ask you two." Xion replied as she picked her purse up off of the floor, pulling out a folded sheet of white paper.

"And that would be?" Sora asked, already leaning over to take a peek at what the woman had in her hands.

"Are you two busy Saturday night?" She inquired slyly.

The twins looked at each other before looking back at Xion and shaking their heads.

"Well, the Cafe is hosting an Open Mic Night."

"But I thought we just..."

"I'm not suggesting we sign up...yet," She held up a hand, cutting Roxas off "There's this band on campus that everyone's buzzing about and I thought we should check them out."

Roxas took the flyer out of Xion's hand and examined it. His eyes immediately grew to comedic proportions. His eyes traced over the frame of a tall, lanky, redhead clad in a tight blazer and even tighter black skinny jeans. He held a microphone up to his lips which curved themselves into a mischievous smirk that matched the glint he held in his impossibly emerald green eyes.

"Who is _that?_ I wasn't even aware they made them like _that_."

Sora looked over his brother's shoulder, his own jaw-dropping open just a little. Xion stifled a laugh from easing from her throat. Her eyes held a mischievous glint, very much like the redhead in the photo.

"So, you guys wanna go with me?" She asked despite already knowing the answer.

Roxas nodded, without looking up from the paper. "Hell to the motherfucking yes." He breathed.

Roxas, while always up to check out a local band, had other ulterior motives for agreeing. On this sheet of paper was a mystifying redhead, that he just had to get to know.

* * *

And so ends Chapter One. The only way I know you didn't run away screaming in absolute horror and that I don't have the writing skills of a five year old, is if you tell me what you think. Feel free to leave constructive criticism, point out typos, or whatever. :)

Thanks for reading!


	2. Every Evening

Didn't Stand a Chance (At All)

* * *

A/N: Major thanks to all who reviewed and followed! You guys are the best creatures ever.

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters or the songs mentioned. I do own a keyboard, minimal vocal training, a best friend with a high libido and majority of the insults in this story.

Songs Mentioned(I own NONE of them): Ur So Gay by Katy Perry, Let Me Down Easy and Every Evening by 2AM Club and Fuck You by Lily Allen (told you it'd be a diverse list.)

* * *

Chapter 2: Every Evening

* * *

Axel threw his head back, his sweat-dampened bangs plastered to his forehead. He took in a deep breath, his hands shaking from the adrenaline pulsating through his veins. He jostled the microphone back into its place on the stand before hastily shoving a hand into his pants pocket to regain control of his quivering limbs. Honestly, who the hell needed drugs when you could get this high off of the sound primal drum beats and guitar riffs?

"All right guys, that was good. Let's take five." The lanky redhead, announced to his band members as he used his sturdier hand to remove the guitar strap from around his shoulders. He had regained most of his stability as he turned to his two bandmates.

His bassist had already found a place on the floor of the practice room. Halfway through his bottle of water, his head was nearly all the way tilted back, taking in as much of the liquid as he could in large gulps. Perspiration had his own silvery bangs clinging to his face. Axel took in his best friend's appearance with a laugh.

"Down for the count already, Anderson Cooper?" Axel joked, as he tossed a bottle to the mass of blonde mohawk-mullet mixture seated behind a blue and white drumset.

Without removing the bottle of water from his lips, the silver-haired musician opened one electric blue-green eye, giving Axel a clear view of his middle finger.

"I told you before, and I'll tell you again," The man began, bringing down the bottle, "Anderson Cooper ain't got shit on me." The man grinned widely.

Axel returned the grin before speaking. "Hear that, Demyx? Sounds like Riku is suffering from those damned delusions again."

Demyx shook his head as he placed his drumsticks down beside him. "Can't go a minute without causing some kind of trouble, can you, Captain Insufferable?"

"I'm not causing trouble, just stating facts."

Riku scoffed from his spot on the floor. "Hear that Dem? His head is _so_ far up his ass, he can simply look up and give himself a prostate exam."

A look of mischievousness danced through Axel's eyes. "You know-"

"NO!" His two best friends interjected.

They'd known Axel since middle school and could tell exactly what road this conversation would stroll down if they allowed him to finish his statement. It was rare that something came out of the green eyed, redheaded man's mouth that didn't ring of 'Asshole' or 'Pervert.'

"You guys are no fun." the lead guitarist pouted before finding a spot on the floor and downing his own bottle of water.

He took his hand out of his pocket and examined it inconspicuously, giving a small smile of approval at the absence of any trembling. The redhead had a little habit of letting the music take him away. Sometimes it'd take him so far away, there were a couple of unwanted physical reactions. Never anything serious and it always resulted in some amazing practices and mind-blowing performances. At the same time, however, he didn't want too many seeing just how much it affected him. That included his band mates.

"Speaking of fun," Riku began, breaking Axel out of his daze. "What was up with the door last night?" Axel couldn't be sure with the long bangs his best friend sported but he was sure he was raising a brow.

"Oh, that?" Axel shrugged, waving the man off. "No reason."

Demyx and Riku exchanged looks before looking back to their lead singer.

"So, I crashed on Dem's floor and put my back through hell for 'no reason'?" Riku questioned. "I mean, my semi-comfortable college issued twin sized monstrosity isn't exactly what dreams are made of but it's a hell of a lot better than two pillows and a carpet that smells like old crotch. So, what gives?"

Axel sighed. "I blocked the door. And there was a reason for it, but I got what I wanted from that reason, so now that reason has no purpose." He answered. Demyx and Riku exchanged glances of utter confusion, before looking back to the green-eyed lead singer. Axel, in turn, shrugged as a finalization of his explanation, as if everything he had just said should make perfect sense.

And to Axel it really did. The man talked a lot of shit, but when it came to his actual escapades he had a tendency to be rather tight-lipped. Which was surprising given the number of times Riku had to sacrifice his back in honor of the 'guy code' just this week alone. Unless, that is, you gave the 22-year old tattooed deviant a bottle of whiskey or vanilla Rum, (or tequila, if the mood was right.) Then those loosened lips could sink some serious ships.

Noticing the looks he was getting from the other two, Axel raised his hands in defense. "Hey, don't hate the player, hate the game. I'm just living the life of a rockstar."

"Yeah, the thing about that line of thinking is that, you're...well not." Demyx laughed.

"Debatable." Axel countered.

"You, my beautifully delusional friend, are not a rock star. You're a broke ass college student who's littered with tattoos, majors in fire science, who likes to drink whenever the mood calls for it, screws like a bunny on Viagra, who just happens to be a decent musician and vocalist." Riku replied, using his fingers to count and punctuate each point. "Now, nowhere in that complete oral biography of your life did you hear the word rockstar. Debate over."

"Aw, Riku, why so cranky? Do you need me to climb in your bed tonight?" Axel cooed, reaching his hand out for his best friends face, only to have it slapped away.

"I'd rather stick my tongue into an electrical socket and hope for the best." Riku scoffed, before standing up and moving out of the redhead's reach.

"Oh, but I have a much better place for it."

"You know what, pick your guitar up, shut up, sing something and keep your fucking herpes to yourself." The bassist snatched Axel's water bottle away, (who in turn let a string of his own protests and curses fly) and pointed over to where the redheaded version of Dennis the Menace had left his microphone and guitar.

It amazed Riku how much a 22-year old man could resemble a 15 year-old hormonally driven teenager. He knew all the reasons Axel felt the need to hide behind piles of bullshit and facades but it made it no less tiring for either of his band mates.

"Well, hello, hello, hello boys." A woman's voice echoed in the fresh silence of the room from the entrance. Xion waved to the trio before walking into the room, Sora, right on her heels.

"Hey Xi!" Demyx greeted brightly with a smile and a wave.

"Ah, to what do we owe this lovely intrusion?" Axel asked, looking up from his guitar to meet the younger female's eyes.

"Oh, not much. I was just making my daily rounds, disturbing the peace, being a menace to society and everything it stands for, when I decided that I should drop by and say hello." Xion responded nonchalantly.

"And who's the kid behind you?" Axel inquired, that familiar look of childish debauchery in his eyes.

"Down boy," Xion warned, taking a small step in front of Sora to guard him from the redhead's somewhat lecherous gaze. "He's not available for your corruption."

Sora looked between Xion and Axel, a mixture of relief and horror painted on his features. He very much felt like a small kid accompanying a parent as they ran into an old friend or family member and that at any second his cheeks would be roughly pinched. Though, he was quite sure that in this case, it wouldn't be the pair on his face, getting manhandled.

"This is Sora, one of my closest friends," Xion explained to Axel and the others, reaching an arm around the brunette's shoulders. "Sor, this creature is known as an 'Axel' beware, if you let your guard down, it will pounce." Sora nodded with a wary smile before shaking hands with the man.

Sora hadn't been sure at first, but this was definitely the band Xion had shown him and Roxas last night. The picture didn't do the front man justice. His hair was much redder and much crazier than any 2-D image could demonstrate. He smiled a little to himself remembering Roxas' reaction to the picture the previous night. If the blonde thought that picture was something, he couldn't wait to see how Roxas would react to seeing this man face to face.

"That mass of unexplainable blonde craziness back there, is Demyx. He's harmless but can and will either talk your ear off or eat you out of house and home," Xion continued. The two newly acquainted men nodded at each other, (after Demyx gave Xion a scathing look for her comment). "And last but surely not least, we have the sometimes quiet, reserved, but mostly walking 'Wit Machine', Riku." Xion finished with a smile.

Riku stepped forward, brushed his bang's from his eyes and flashed a smile at the small brunette boy as he stuck his hand out for Sora to take. Upon taking the man's hand the brunette looked up, his eyes immediately drawn to the intensity of the taller man's eye color.

Sora recalled noticing the man right beside Axel in the photo, but if the somewhat pixelated low resolution image had been a slight misrepresentaion of Axel, it sure as hell didn't reveal how ethereal this guy looked. (Not that Sora was finding him to be ethereal or anything.) The dazed twin, realizing how far from the present he had drifted, jolted back to reality, snatched his hand back, before mumbling a "nice to meet you". His cheeks burning from embarrassment. Xion and Riku exchanged looks. Her smile transforming from a pleasant one, to a knowing one.

"So, can I still expect Re:Coded to make an appearance tonight?" She asked, turning her attention back to the band as a whole.

"Of course." Axel answered, as he began tuning his guitar, quickly losing interest in the conversation.

"Excellent, because someone will be there that I want you all to meet." the blue-eyed girl clapped approvingly.

"Is he hot?" The redhead looked up curiosity bringing him back to the pair of practice-crashers in front of him.

The group collectively groaned.

"She said _meet, _not screw." Demyx corrected in an exasperated fashion.

Axel turned to the drummer in mock bewilderment. "There's a difference?"

Xion pinched the bridge of her nose. "Good Gracious, I am so glad you're gay, otherwise you'd be a three part Jerry Springer paternity episode just waiting to happen." she sighed.

Sora watched the familiar exchange between the four and just had to ask.

"So, Xi, how exactly do you know these guys?"

The brunette turned to her friend, her face resembling a deer in headlights for all of two seconds. "Oh, I haven't told you and Roxas yet, have I?" She half mumbled to herself. "Space case Xion strikes again. Demyx is my cousin."

Sora paused. "Cue the record scratch. I'm pretty sure I've met your entire family and poked through just about every photo album you own. Call me crazy, but I think that if Rox and I came across that hairstyle, we would've ragged on him pretty bad." Sora reasoned before he paused again to look over to the drummer. "No offense."

"Some taken, but not much." Demyx mumbled, running his hands through the aforementioned mane.

"Yeah, my mother's second cousin married his...something or other and we met at the wedding. We have no idea what the official title is between us so we just call each other cousin. While all the senior citizens were embarrassing themselves to all the hits of the prehistoric era, we connected over instruments and stuff. It wasn't too much later that I found out we went to the same University and I met the other clowns of Re:Coded." Xion shrugged. Sora nodded, forming a silent 'O' with his lips as the information sunk in.

"Well if we're done establishing family trees and shootin' the shit," Axel cut in, rather loudly. "It'd be nice to get back to our current task at hand."

"Oh my, baby gets cranky when he doesn't have something to keep that mouth occupied." Xion teased. Axel fought both the urge to smile and to respond to the innuendo. He instead made a shoo-ing motion at the woman and her friend. "Fine, Fine. We're going. You three be good. And by three I do mean you and your various mental illnesses, Axel."

The two now exiled intruders made their way towards the exit and left the room after giving a final wave.

"Well now, that was interesting." Riku half-whispered as he watched the two leave.

* * *

Roxas was almost sure his mind had been taken over by a fucking parasite. That had to be it. There was no other way to explain why he was sitting in the very back of the lecture hall and instead of taking notes on Plato's Cave allegory shit, was tapping his foot to a beat only he could hear and hastily scribbling notes and lyrics.

He blamed that redhead.

Roxas couldn't be sure but there was something familiar in that photo. The way he looked into the camera as the microphone skimmed across his lips. Roxas knew that look somehow. It was this same thought that had kept him up until 2 am putting together the basis of this song. He had the lyrics, he had the beats. Now he just had to go back and enhance the vocals. He had runs and bits of falsetto he had never attempted before, but it was too damn perfect to change now. The song was more pop and R&B than anything he had dared before. Sora would love it.

As soon as he finished the song, he looked up to find that he was the only one still seated. The only people left were the professor and his loyal ass kissers. The blonde gathered his stuff and eased out of the room, making his way to the courtyard. He had to laugh at himself and this new song. Here he was, a full grown twenty one year old man with a crush. Had his age regressed at the sight of that photo or were those fangirly bits of DNA that Sora had been exhibiting over the years, finally kicked in?

"Roxas!" The blue-eyed male looked up at the sound of his name to find the present subject of his thoughts waving at him from a table.

Roxas made his way over, plopping down on the cool stone bench.

"Hey, bedhead." The blonde greeted. He reached out and squished his brother's mass of brown spikes hair which just popped back up in response.

Sora frowned and attempted to rearrange the madness that was his hair.. "You're one to talk. How was class?"

Roxas shrugged. "No idea."

Sora cocked his head in confusion, examining the book bag Roxas had just shrugged out of and dumped onto the table.

"You skipped?"

"No, I went but might as well not have. I was sort of distracted."

"Oh, you met someone?" Sora's face lit up with interest.

"No, Nosy Rosie," Roxas rolled his eyes as he zipped open his bag and pulled out his hastily written song. "I was caught up in this."

Sora took the music from the blonde man and examined it. He couldn't make much sense out of the musical notes but the lyrics made a smile crawl across his face.

"I'm not sure if my innocent eyes should be reading some of these lines," Sora laughed. "But a clear departure from the emo shit you've been writing. I approve"

Roxas snatched the papers back, a mock glare on his features. "Shut up or I'll demote you to tambourine player. And _you know_ what they say about tambourine players." The blonde joked.

He looked over to his brother after noticing the lackluster response he got from the brunette.

"Sor? Eveything okay?" Roxas asked after noticing the unreadable expression on his brother's features.

Sora jumped for the second time that day. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good."

"Liar."

"Is it too late to request a subject change?" The brunette's face was on fire.

"Why?" Roxas raised a brow. Sora was giving off major waves of weird right about now. Usually his brother was ridiculously transparent but his reaction was uncommonly unreadable.

"Just because," Sora whined. "I don't really want to talk about it right now."

Roxas gave in. He knew his brother. If it was anything worth talking about, he'd come to him sooner or later. If you tried to pull anything out of the brunette he'd freak and close up for good.

"Alright. But when you do finally talk, just remember I am not licensed to treat mental illness and fully support electroshock treatment."

"You're an ass." Sora sighed in a mixture of annoyance and relief.

"Oh my, look at the potty mouth we're sporting today."

"I wonder where I get it from." Sora grumbled.

"Xion, of course." Roxas grinned.

"You're displaying symptoms of Assholeitivity and I'm leaving before I catch it." Sora stuck his tongue out at his brother, while gathering his books that were scattered around the table.

"And you're so gay, and you don't even like boys." Roxas countered, returning the gesture with a smile.

"Quoting Katy Perry now? I'm really leaving before you break out into a verse of What Makes You Beautiful." Sora looked to his brother with faux bewilderment.

Roxas was in rare form today, joking around much more than usual. Sora was even surprised his brother actually joined him at the table instead of taking off for the dorm like he usually did. If it wasn't time for class or food, Roxas kept himself locked in the dorm with his guitar, Oathkeeper. The brunette threw his bag over one shoulder, "accidentally" knocking his brother in the head with it.

The blonde glared at his sibling, who in turn, scuttled away like a small crab, before his brother could retaliate. About two minutes after his sibling had vanished around the corner, Roxas felt his pocket vibrate. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked his notifications.

* * *

** Irritation Nation (Sora)**

By the way, met your boyfriend today. Was gonna tell you in person, but that's what happens when you're a smart ass.

2:32 pm September 5th

* * *

Roxas looked up and saw his brother's head leaning over the balcony that overlooked the courtyard. Sora flashed an impish grin before disappearing. Roxas decided, after hearing the rapid footfalls, he ran. Smart move. Unfortunately for Sora, they shared a dorm and someone was in for one hell of a pillow beating.

~.~.~

"So how much shit are we going to have to suffer through until we get to the main event?" Roxas asked they elbowed their way into the cafe. Xion was mentally thanking her manager for letting her reserve a table near the front for the trio. The cafe was never this packed, it was usually a quiet place for the campus hipsters to suck down Chai lattes and study. Those fliers Re:Coded had been passing around had obviously worked.

"Mean," Xion laughed. "Some of these people may not be that bad."

"I'm guessing that'll apply to a very small minority," Roxas smirked. "I mean, that guy in the corner has an accordion for fuck's sake." Xion and Sora spotted the male clad in lederhosen, a tambourine at his feet. They all laughed. Well, someone was just asking for ridicule.

The trio were in high spirits after spending the majority of the afternoon holed up in a practice room. They had finally managed to make the jumbled notes Roxas had spent the morning scribbling, into an actual listenable song. They had no intention of actually performing the song of course, but it was enough that they actually had a chance to play together.

The show went better than expected. (Accordion guy was better than they had anticipated.) There were more Nicki Minaj impersonations going around than Roxas would have liked, but overall the energy and atmosphere was amazing. The blonde had forgotten just how much he enjoyed being surrounded by artists.

"Here we go." Sora nudged his brother excitedly, as a mass of red spikes approached the stage.

Roxas felt himself just about hit the floor as his eyes settled on the new individual on stage. His eyes followed the fluid movements the musician made as his large hands ran through his mane of red insanity, pulling it back and fastening it with a black band. That flier should have been ashamed of itself. There was no way that any sheet of paper could have possibly done justice to the depth of color those green eyes had. Roxas had been so focused on the lead singer he hadn't noticed the other two members climb up and get ready.

"Hello, Hello, everyone. We are Re:Coded and I hope you're ready for us."

Roxas felt himself sit up in his seat as the redhead's hand positioned themselves on his guitar, his lips just inches from the mic. Was it just him, or had it gotten unbelievably hot in here?

"Whatever you do, don't throw your panties on stage," Xion whispered into her friend's ear. "I will disown you and promptly quit the band."

"Shut your gaping noise void would ya?" The blonde hissed, using his foot to scoot the dark-haired woman's chair away.

With a smirk, the lanky male looked out at the crowd, starting the song up with an introduction from his guitar. Roxas hoped the gulp he produced wasn't as audible as he thought as the redhead's tongue flicked out for just a moment, wetting his lips. The blonde nearly transformed to a puddle of ice cream as the man began to sing the first verse. Roxas was absolutely entranced until the man's pronoun usage stopped him dead.

_"H__e's been flirtin' all night, wishing he could own me."_

Flag on the mother lovin' play.

Did he hear what he think he just heard? Roxas perked up and looked around. No one else seemed to be picking up on what the lead singer was putting down. In fact, it was quite clear that majority of the girls in the place were still losing about 80% of their body's moisture by just staring at the members of Re:Coded. They were just about ready to rush the stage as the bassist with long (..Gray? Silver? It had to be silver. Okay, that's new.) silver hair moved up to his own mic, helping the leading man sing the chorus.

Well if no one else heard it, he'd just chalk it up to paranoid schizophrenia.

Roxas was sure he probably looked like a mounted fish the way his mouth was hanging open, but he couldn't help it. He had never witnessed stage presence like this from a local band. The way the front man commanded the stage and enraptured the entire room was amazing. The blonde had to volley in between listening to the green-eyed man's husky vocals and tracing the outlines of his entirely too tight black skinny jeans and the split second visible abs that peeked from up under his tight dark colored t-shirt whenever he'd throw himself into dancing to the music.

Never had any human ever wanted to switch places with an article of clothing so badly, before.

"They're pretty amazing huh?" Sora nudged his brother, his face almost as giddy as his brother's.

"Y-yeah. I was honestly not expecting them to be this good." Roxas answered as the band ended their first song.

"So for those who don't know, my name is Axel, A-x-e-l. Got it memorized? Dude on bass is Riku," He gestured to the guy next to him. "And Demyx, is on drums, and again we are Re:Coded. Also for those interested, I'm taking applications for a contract lover, position begins around November first and ends sometime after April. Excellent benefits." He winked out at the crowd, receiving ear-piercing screams that Roxas was sure would break the sound barrier, as well as a smack upside the head from Riku.

"Anywho, this is actually our second and last song of the night. This was nothing more than a preview of what's to come. November 3rd right out in the courtyard, at 8:30. Be there. Especially you Blondie." Axel smirked again, but this time his eyes were right on Roxas.

Holy, shit on a cracker.

Roxas looked around making sure there were no other blondes in the immediate area. Nope, only him. Roxas felt his face go ablaze and-

Halt the motherfuckin' fanfare.

Who the hell was he calling Blondie?

Before Roxas has enough time to even mentally protest, Re:Coded started in on their last song of the night. Roxas was taken slightly by surprised by the slower tempo and even more by the easy way the man's voice seemed to travel on sound waves that were hell-bent on making the attentive blonde's legs into Jell-O.

Holy handbaskets in hell, the guy could really sing.

And not only that, Roxas... knew this song. The song itself rang 'college anthem' the way it boasted getting totally plastered and "falling in love every evening". He definitely had heard it on the campus radio more than once but was too lazy to actually find out who sang it. He even knew the words and if he wasn't so self-conscious (and trying to figure out why it seemed like the bassist appeared to be eyeing Sora) he definitely would have. Roxas bobbed his head along to the rest of the song, losing himself in the smoothness of the song's arrangement... and Axel.

As the song ended with a couple of ad-libs back-up vocals, Roxas knew that he just had to meet this guy. (Simply to pick his brain of course.)

"So what do you think?" Xion asked as the redhead and his band mates were ambushed by screaming fans. She just had to wonder how big the string of self-control was that was keeping Roxas in his seat right at that second.

"I've no words. They were awesome," Roxas half-laughed. "Honestly I'm seconds away from fangirling here."

"I don't think you have to. The amount of drool on your chin is explanation enough." Sora laughed.

Roxas turned to his brother with a mini-glare. "I hate you and wish to burn you in the sun."

Sora pouted. "Mean."

Xion smiled, turning the conversation back to the show. "So you really liked them that much, huh?"

"Of course. I don't think I've ever seen a local band so well put together and oh my damn, that lead singer."

Xion threw her head back and laughed. "You sound like a Justin Bieber fan girl right now."

Roxas' face deflated quickly. "I find it appropriate to quote Lily Allen right now: its people like you that need to get slew. No one wants your opinion. Fuck you. Fuck you very, very much."

"Oh, I don't know, I think she made a point. However, I do enjoy the praise, so please continue." A semi-familiar voice came from behind causing Roxas to stop dead.

He slowly turned to find all three members of Re:Coded standing behind him. The green-eyed leader leaning forward so that his face was mere inches from the now mortified blue-eyed blonde. Roxas felt the blood drain from his face.

"Capital fuckery." He mumbled.

* * *

As always, thank you for reading!

Don't hesitate to write and submit something in that little white box below. :)


	3. The Irony of Choking on a Lifesaver

Didn't Stand a Chance (At All)

* * *

A/N: Hello, hello loveliest of lovelies. First off, I want to again thank everyone who read, favorited and/or reviewed my story! (Especially the Ninjas! – Those that read then disappear w/out a trace– you guys matter too!)

Well enough of my ramblings...

What I Own: The only things I own are multiple moments of horrifying embarrassment (maybe I'll tell you one if you ask nicely) and a male best friend that I pass insults found in this chapter, back and forth with.

Song mentioned: The Irony of Choking on a Lifesaver – All Time Low

* * *

Chapter 3: The Irony of Choking on a Lifesaver

* * *

Roxas sat rigid in his seat. His eyes, glued to the smug smile that was stitched into face of the taller man standing before him. In a less embarrassed state, the blonde would have noticed how the smirk raised one of the tattoos just above the apple of his cheek, into the small crinkles under one of his eyes. But right now the blue eyed boy was horrified. No, mortified. No, the best way to sum up the look that was plastered to his features would have been: 'dear-god-please-let-there-be-a-crazed-sniper-primed-to-take-me-out-right-here-and-now'.

"What? No more flattery?" Axel asked, crossing his arms attempting to counteract the smirk with a look of feign disappointment.

Roxas's eyes traced over the flexed bicep, admiring the flaming chakram that was etched into his skin. He could spot more ink peeking from under the man's shirt, almost sure that the man had a sleeve of images engraved just under its fabric. And that was something the blonde was very interested in seeing. Catching himself, Roxas's eyes darted back towards the man's face.

"Ah, I- uh..." Roxas sputtered sounding very much like the Rhodes scholar he was (not).

If there was ever a time for a half bottle of Vodka...this was it. Damn Radiant Gardens University for being a dry campus, damn them to Hell while wearing gasoline soaked sweaters. The startled man closed his flapping mouth, swallowing hard, the motion akin to swallowing a mouth full of lead. Here he was waxing poetic about the awesomeness that was Re:Coded and he was pretty sure they'd heard every bit. It wasn't like hadn't meant what he said, it was just, well he would have liked them to not have heard him sounding like a an overly excited fat kid in a bakery on free sample day.

"Oh come on, Ax, leave the kid alone. He looks like he's about to have a stroke." Demyx spoke up nudging the redhead, an obvious (but much less goading) grin coated his face.

"I'm not a kid." Roxas attempted to correct but instead flinched as his voice cracked. Great, and now he sounded like a prepubescent girl.

And here he thought gay guys were supposed be snarky and full of wit. Maybe that part was reserved for the drag queens and cross-dressers. From his right he could hear snorts and out of his peripheral he could see Xion and Sora's heads down, their shoulders shaking uncontrollably.

Assclowns.

Axel could practically feel his facial muscles stretching now. There was something downright adorable about the way this kid blushed. His eyes traced how it centralized at the apple of his cheeks and dusted the tips of his ears.

"Honestly Blondie, It wasn't my intention to scare you like that. I didn't even know people could create that shade of red, I mean, it's downright adorable." The redhead chuckled.

Delay that bullshit, Captain.

It was bad enough he got caught gushing over him. Bad enough that he now resembled a freakin' tomato. And worse that he felt his pride, dignity and miniscule bits of masculinity had been called into question, but he'd be damned, absolutely damned to oblivion if he was going to be called out of his name. _Fuck _that.

"My name is Roxas. Not Blondie. Not Kid. Roxas. Strife." Roxas snapped, ignoring his vocal chords' previous betrayal and feeling the heat on his face die down.

"Ah, I thought so. The hair color had me thinking otherwise. So you're the Thing 2 to Sora's Thing 1?" Riku asked, slightly bumping Axel away as an attempt to diffuse the current situation. "Fraternal or Identical?"

"Fraternal. We just have identical tendencies." Sora offered eagerly, sitting up in his seat like a puppy primed to receive a treat. Roxas' eyes darted over to his brother, somewhat surprised at how fast he bounced back from his laughing fit.

Axel, even more intrigued now, took a step back and soaked in the sight of all three seated college students. One thing was for sure, they didn't exactly fit the bill of a 'kick ass' band. The redhead had to wonder if the twins knew the difference between a G string and a _G-string_ .

"So, that makes you the lead singer of 'Triple D' then huh?" He mused. "I've heard good things about you kid."

Roxas fought back both the urge to smile stupidly and to kick this beanpole in the shin. He was beginning to suspect that this guy either needed a hearing aid or one good falcon punch to the throat.

"The name is-"

"So how come you three didn't grace the stage tonight?" Axel cut Roxas off.

Roxas felt his face slowly heat up again, despite his best efforts to prevent it. He wasn't exactly adept at thinking on his feet tonight, especially in front of this guy. He was quite unsure of how to answer without sounding like a complete and total wimp. The flabbergasted blonde looked over at Xion, who was preoccupied with the meticulous action of getting all the laugh induced tears cleared away without smudging her eyeliner. (Honestly, the situation wasn't _that _funny.)

"Well, we don't exactly have any new original music ready for the stage at the moment." She coughed, attempting to get her vocal chords back in complete working order.

Roxas inwardly breathed relief. Maybe, just maybe, Xion wasn't such an evil mutinous creature after all.

"How about next Open Mic?" Axel asked, crossing his arms.

Roxas looked over to Xion again.

She shrugged in response. "Guess it all depends on how ready we are. We aren't getting up there if we sound like a shit on a stick."

By now everyone was in tune to this verbal tennis match, all eyes moving back toward the redhead.

"While that's an infinitely disgusting image," Axel frowned, only to receive an unabashed smile from Xion. "What would you say to giving us a little preview right now. It doesn't have to be anything original, you could do a cover. I'm sure you could manage that."

Roxas blinked. This guy just didn't give up. But Roxas wasn't about to give in either. (or rather let Xion let him give in) There was no way, absolutely no fucking way he was climbing up on that stage tonight. Nope. Not if he had any say in the matter.

"Oh, that sounds fun!" Sora squeaked, nudging his brother.

Someone call the Assistant District Attorney because this was a serious case of Capital Fuckery.

The blonde man barely managed to keep himself from falling out of his seat.

"It's official, Sora doesn't have the common sense God gave an acorn." Roxas muttered as he righted himself in his chair.

Xion and Roxas looked over at their oblivious band mate with scowls engrained into their faces. Sora looked back at them, his eagerness replaced with an apologetic smile. Roxas let out the breath he was holding before sending a shaky hand through his spiky tresses. He shot a glance at Xion, who was obviously thrown off by his idiotic brother's response and was bone dry in the excuses department.

"B-But w-we don't even have our equipment." The boy responded shakily.

"You can use ours." Axel answered.

Fuck.

"It wouldn't be the same." Roxas argued.

"No? But I'm sure last time I talked to Xion she said we basically used the same guitar and bass. Just different colors. We professionals only use the best right?" The redhead grinned.

Fuckity fuck.

Roxas opened his mouth to protest, only to have air come out. He was out of ideas. And Xion was back on the mutiny list. He'd literally beat the stuffing out of a pillow on Sora to get the whole story on their meeting earlier that day but he didn't know just how much time Xion had been spending with the older guys nor what their conversations consisted of. Honestly, where _was_ a sniper when you really needed one?

"Come on, there's no one here but us and a couple of persistent and handsy groupies." Demyx chimed in making a wide gesture to the expanse of the cafe.

Roxas looked around realizing that the sandy blonde man was right. There were about 3 small groups of women, all visually molesting Re:Coded with predatory stares. Good grief, he'd seen tap-dancing elephants with more subtlety than these women. Okay, maybe not, but the general principle still applied here.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you were trying to find a way out of this," Axel spoke, shattering his thoughts. He looked back over at the tattooed musician. "Does that mean you're _scared_" The man nearly sang the last word causing Roxas's lips to curl at the corner.

"You realize you sound a hell of lot like a 50s after-school special bully right about now?" Roxas quirked up an eyebrow.

Axel rose an eyebrow of his own. "Well, golly gee, Roxas, if I didn't know any better, I'd say someone was not only a chicken but stalling." The redhead replied, his voice afflicted with a 'Leave it to Beaver' tone.

Roxas shook his head. "That's the best you can do?" He snorted.

The redhead shrugged. "Nah, but I have no interest trying to force a bunch of rookies to get up there and embarrass themselves."

"Eh?" Roxas' smile fell. Did this Ronald McDonald knock-off just say what he think he said?

"Honestly Xion, I really thought after all the shit you talked there'd be _something_ to back it up. This kid is probably two skips and a hop from Rebecca Black."

Roxas didn't remember standing up but before he knew what he was doing his face was inches from the redhead's his blue eyes narrowed into slits. There are some things that one musician just doesn't say to another and Axel had most definitely crossed the line between taunting and having your third vertebra beaten to hell with your own guitar.

"What the hell did you just say?"

"Oooh, Blondie is even cuter when he's mad!" Axel cooed reaching out a hand to pinch Roxas' cheeks.

"Touch me and I'll shove that hand so far up your own ass– "

"And he's a kinky little thing!"The redhead cut him off, his grin growing even more as Roxas' hand still floated mid-air.

Demyx and Riku shook their heads. Their best friend was a bona fide dumb ass.

Roxas still steaming, turned to his band mates, his pissed off expression startling them.

"Bring your asses." He growled, stealing one last look at Re:Coded.

Roxas could deal with a lot of bullshit, but one thing he couldn't stand was having his musical ability questioned. It was akin to looking at a man naked and asking him "So, where's the rest of it?" Bullshit in it's purest form is exactly what it was and Roxas was not going to stand here and take it. The blonde spun on his heel and hopped up on the stage, eye-ing Axel's guitar suspiciously. It was very much the same brand as his, even the same make. But instead of electric blue, black and silver, Axel's was a reddish-orange, almost resembling a flame. Roxas took the Gibson out of its stand and held in his hands, feeling the weight of it. It would work. Roxas looked over at the edge of the stage, his best friend and brother crawling up its corner. Xion gave him a look he couldn't quite decipher.

"You don't have to do this." She whispered, taking care not to speak into the microphone the blonde was standing directly in front of.

Roxas shook his head. "Yeah, Xi, I think I do."

He turned his attention to the instrument in his hands, tuning it carefully. Unlike a certain red-haired jackass who would remain nameless, he could never be accused of disrespect towards a fellow musician. No matter how bad he wanted to take the guitar and smash it into little tiny bits, burn it, and dance around the bonfire it made, he'd be respectful. No matter how much it ate away at the outward edges of his soul.

"We doing this for real?" Sora asked, his eyes darting between his brother and Riku's bass which was a sleek aquamarine with silver adorning the sides. Roxas turned to his brother.

"Changed your mind, Absent-minded Professor?"

"Oh, stuff it, Mr. Adorable." Sora stuck his tongue out at his brother.

"Hey, Sora? Do me a favor, go fill a tub and hold your face down in the water until everything goes black." Roxas snarled at the use of the nickname.

"I think that stick _is_ causing infection, Xi." Sora grumbled, picking up the bass and turning from his freshly peeved twin.

"So what's the play?" Xion sighed at the two over-sized toddlers.

Roxas looked out at the trio of men, who was now sitting at their table. Riku and Demyx looking genuinely interested, while Axel just looked smug.

"The Irony of Choking on a Life-Saver." Roxas announced clearly into the microphone. He looked directly into the eyes of the smug redhead, before looking back at his own bassist and drummer. Xion settled in at Demyx's drums, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. Roxas could feel his hands beginning to shake. How in the name of everything sane in this world did he let himself get sucked into this? He watched as Xion lifted the drumsticks above her head before turning his head back towards the small audience. He shut his eyes, steadied his hands and put his lips to the microphone as he heard Xion signal the intro with four pounds of the drums. Here goes nothing.

"_Stop fucking around with my emotions."_

The blonde could feel his extremities tingling as adrenaline pulsed through them. He hadn't realized just how much he'd missed this part of his life. He opened his eyes for the first time and noticed that the crowd had grown a little since the music started. He closed his eyes once more, not able to look over at Re:Coded as they transitioned into the second verse.

"_You think your opinions make you savy. Your running mouth falls on deaf ears. You say you're winning 'cause your laughing."_

He looked over at Sora, as he heard his brother command the back-up vocals. There was a happiness on his face that he hadn't seen in a long time, and the blonde couldn't help but feel an all too familiar pang of guilt.

As the song ended, Roxas head snapped up as he heard a disproportionate amount of applause. He could feel his jaw drop as he looked out. The crowd wasn't just a bunch of the college's most whorealicious women but normal, average people as well. People who had attended Open Mic Night, or were just loitering outside the cafe who had decided to come in. And they were cheering for them. Roxas spun to look at Sora who had a goofy grin to match the one that had crept onto his own face. Xion was busy giving the crowd her best princess wave. Sora rolled his eyes.

"Just filled with humility isn't she?" Sora nudged his brother as she elbowed the two to get to the front of the stage.

"No, my dear brother that creature right there is full of 100% Grade A Bullshit." His twin laughed. Xion turned her head, giving the two men a deadly glare. Before mouthing: "Hatin' ass zeros."

The brothers put the instruments down and waved out to the crowd before making their way back to the trio of men that had taken their table. Xion lagging behind as she gave one last bow.

"I have to say, that was definitely miles away from 'shit on a stick' status." Riku called out as the boys approached.

"Hell yeah, and you guys haven't been on the stage in like three or four years? Shit, Britney Spears couldn't command a stage like that with all the lip singing and 'try not to dance like a soccer mom in her 40s' training' in the world."

"You would know, you've been to every show." Riku snorted.

"Hey, I went to one show and that's because the Pussycat Dolls were opening."

"See, I would have just flat-out denied that shit. You could at least pretend to be a classy gay and go see Celine Dion or Barbara Streisand but no." Riku shook his head, condemning his friend.

"Yeah, but see I'm not gay." Demyx argued.

"Not an excuse for poor taste in concerts." Riku tsked.

"Fuck off." Demyx grumbled, before turning to Axel who had yet to comment on the band. "So Captain, whattya think?"

Roxas looked over at the tattooed male who was stretched out in his chair, slightly leaning back on the back two legs of it. Roxas caught himself chewing on his bottom lip and promptly stopped himself. The redhead looked up with an amused look.

"I have to give it you, you guys are better than I anticipated.

Roxas let go of a breath he wasn't aware he was holding. It wasn't like he truly cared what the guy said it was just that – Okay he was lying to himself. He _did_ care. He respected the guy's talent and charisma and getting that kind of compliment from him was like –

"However," Axel began again.

Aw, damn.

"It's obvious you have some issues, kid."

Roxas narrowly avoided choking on the air he was inhaling.

"E-excuse me?"

"Self-esteem issues. It shows. You deal with your issues, you'll perform better. I'm not saying you guys were bad, quite the opposite actually. But you Blondie definitely need some work. You gotta accept yourself before you can expect an audience too." Axel leaned in, putting the chair on all fours and propping his head up on the heel of one of his hands. "You afraid the masses won't accept you as a gay front man?"

What the flying fuck?

Roxas stared back at the man. He hadn't heard that. Nope. Paranoid Schizophrenia again. His sanity had finally flown the fucking coop. Roxas was busy trying to figure out how he was going to break the news to his family. The smart twin was apparently two notes short of a song, because he was obviously hearing shit.

"Whoa, don't you think you're going a little far there?" Xion asked, crossing her arms over her chest. She gave the tattooed deviant a warning look.

"Not at all. I'm not going to lie to the kid."

"My name is Roxas! If you can't even get my fucking name right, where the hell do you get the balls to sit there and 'psychoanalyze' me?" Roxas half-yelled adding in air quotation marks where necessary.

Axel lifted a brow.

"I'm wrong?"

"Very." Roxas growled.

"Then how come for the three minutes and thirty seven seconds you were up there you only opened your eyes once?"

Roxas paused. No, no Mr. Mouth, you don't get to point out logical shit.

"You don't know a damn thing about me."

"That wasn't part of my question and I know more than you think. You're afraid of the stage, afraid of people judging you. Well, tough shit, go back to your dorm, take two Fuck-it-alls with a glass of Whatever and get over it. You get in the spotlight and they will scrutinize. It's the payment." Axel smirked. "I mean it wouldn't be so bad if you weren't dragging down the rest of the band with you. It's kinda sad man."

Roxas had no idea when he picked up the glass, nor could he recall tossing its syrupy sweet contents into the redhead's face. But he did. He slammed the glass down and moved in close to the drenched man's face.

"You don't fucking know me, or the hell I've been through. You can go fornicate yourself with an iron stick. Assclown."

The blonde didn't look over his shoulder as he stormed out of the cafe, pushing past all the shocked onlookers, trying to figure out what had just happened. Sora looked over at Xion before taking off after his brother. The brunette woman just stared at the redhead.

"There's a difference between constructive honesty and just being as asshole, you know that right?"

Axel half laughed, wiping his eyes free of the liquid. "So I should sugarcoat it like you guys?"

"No, Asshead, you can be honest without being brutal. Good God, I think the real person with the self-esteem issues is you. Heartbroken so many times, you can't function like a normal human?" She scoffed. "The point of this and me telling you everything I did was so that you could sympathize and help him. Show him that there's no line between sexuality and music. Not tear him down anymore, Tinman."

Axel's grin died as he looked up at the pissed off female. She rolled her eyes and jogged out of the cafe calling out to her best friends. Demyx handed the now stoic redhead a napkin.

"I think you may have blown it, Mr. Flynn." Riku smirked.

"Shut the hell up." Axel sighed, snatched the napkin and started to dry his face off, while he mentally berated himself.

* * *

Sorry this chapter is somewhat short, it was supposed to be longer with about two more songs and much more action but you know, "life is what happens when you're busy making plans."

First person to spot my horrendous musical puns and Dr. Seuss reference wins a... something... yeah, I'm bad at giving incentives.

As always, thank you for reading and feel free to let me know what you think.


	4. Two Way Street

Didn't Stand a Chance (At All)

* * *

A/N: So, this chapter came much later than it was supposed to. Blame it on Hell Week, AKA Final's Week. Don't shank me please. To apologize, I give you a 17 page chapter. Forgive me? Thanks to every one who read, reviewed, alerted and/or favorited. You guys are the most AWESOME humans to ever grace this earth. Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise.

Song mentioned: Two-Way Street by Kimbra (I absolutely ADORE this woman, by the way)

* * *

Chapter 4 – Two Way Street

* * *

It took an entire week for Axel to finally admit it but there was really no way to avoid declaring it now. In accordance with the the way things transpired last Saturday night, he was officially the Prime Minister of Dumbassland. He'd been spending the better of the time most people spent sleeping, trying to scrub the smell of sweet tea and stupidity from his skin and hair, to no avail. The look of anger and hurt the shorter blonde male sported before assaulting him (It could totally be classified as assault; ice cubes crashing into your forehead at full speed hurt like hell) was engraved into the forefront of his mind. And for some reason, nothing could erase it or the feelings of guilt the image drug up.

He wasn't even aware of why he even cared so much. Roxas was hardly the first man to ever be offended by something he said. The redhead sighed and tilted his head back knocking it gently against the wall behind him. And now, here he was waiting in a near empty hallway on a Friday afternoon, getting side glances from passing students, while looking like the world's gaudiest wallflower. He made a puttering sound with his lips.

This is exactly what happens when you try to be honest and make friends. Stupid ass humans and their damn feelings.

Before Axel could finish his tirade against the entirety of the human race, he heard a distinctive giggle and the sound of multiple footsteps coming his way. He stood up straight, slightly feeling a hitch in his chest as his green eyes caught the gaze of a pair of familiar blue ones.

"What in the name of Davy Crockett's sweat-stained buckskins are you doing here?" Xion deadpanned.

Axel gave a sheepish smile. She turned to the girls she had been walking with, signaling that it was okay for them to go on without her. Axel opened his mouth to say something but was cut off as Xion turned on her heels gesturing for him to follow her. She led him outside to a picnic bench away from prying ears underneath a large tree near the girl's dorm that the two had just exited.

Xion crossed her arms and stared the redhead down making him feel very much like a kindergartener getting scolded for letting the class hermit crab out of his cage and right into his childhood rival's pants during nap time...not that he had ever done that before.

"I think I screwed up." He sighed after a couple moments of unbearable silence.

"Really, now? I honestly thought you did a smashing job that night, not to mention it only took you about a week to realize it."

"You don't have to be so sarcastic."

"I think I do. Let me summarize that night in one sentence: Let The Bodies Hit The Floor by Drowning Pool on repeat for two hours straight."

"I'm sorry."

"Apologizing to the wrong person."

"Damn it, Xion, can you take off the sarcastic asshole hat for one second, you don't wear it well."

Xion shrugged. Axel sighed. This was actually going much worse than he anticipated it would. If she was this pissed at him just think how hard it would be to get Roxas to even be in the same room as him. Not that Axel really cared to be in the same room as someone who previously assaulted him. No matter how hot they looked when they were pissed off to the very core of their existence.

Sometimes Axel just had to wonder if he just grew up to be a social screw up.

"You realize why I'm being hard on you right now, right?" Xion questioned, her tone softening just a bit.

"I can make a couple of guesses."

"Why are you really here?" Xion asked sighing deeply, turning the conversation in a different direction much to Axel's relief. He had a feeling he knew where that topic would stray if they stayed on that road.

"I feel bad."

"About?"

"How everything went down, I guess."

"Why?"

Axel rolled his eyes. He just came to say sorry. He should have known better than to go to a psychology major for a simple cut and dry solution to his problems. Xion looked at him expectantly. He groaned miserably, soul-searching was always so damning to the ego.

"Because I have no idea what the hell happened Saturday night. I kind of thought I was helping. I was getting to the relating part but before I could get there I had a face full of Lipton, lemon and ice. I'm not sure what went wrong."

Xion grinned. "Now, see how easy that was you big, whiny, XY chromosome carrying dummy."

Axel cringed. "Harsh."

"I can be harsher. Now shut up and listen."

The redhead nodded quietly. One thing was for sure, if counseling didn't work out for Xion she could easily get a job as a secret service agent or a mob boss.

"Delivery. That's what screwed you over. Honesty is great, but not so much when it's in the form of verbal diarrhea."

"What is it with you and using bowel movements as imagery?" The singer frowned.

The brunette woman ignored his complaints. "You can't just meet someone and start prattling off every flaw you see _and_ say everything I told you not to say. He's still beyond pissed off. He's been held up in room like a quarantine patient all week –" She paused and sniffed. "You still smell like tea and lemon."

"I know, I've tried everything!" Axel whined, running his hand through his red mane. "How the hell's a man supposed to get laid if he smells like tea, unless there are some guys who are into that kind of – I... should... stop talking now right?"

Xion nodded curtly. "Don't start that with me, Ax. I don't really go for the whole 'blanketing my insecurities with innuendos and tactless jokes' facade. If you wanna start that go back to your enabling band mates."

Well, someone had on their anti-bullshit panties today.

Axel frowned and nodded and continued listening.

"You pretty much crushed the guy's image of you, which really kinda sucks because I think you're the most honest when you're on the stage. You performing was the perfect first impression of you for him to have. Maybe, you should show him that side of you again then, if he can remember why he was interested in you in the first place, you'd be free to apologize without getting disemboweled."

Axel perked up. "The kid was _interested_ in me?"

"Were you not there when he almost had an aneurism after you heard him waxing poetic about you and your set. Even after that, when you were standing right in front of him being the biggest jerk in the history of the world, the guy was drooling so much I thought I was going to have to go and get a mop." Xion said wryly, trying very hard not to smile at the expression on Axel's face.

"W-well yeah, but I thought that was just because he liked our sound not – " Axel trailed off, hearing that Roxas had a thing for him, did strange things to his heartbeat. But the feeling stopped just as abruptly as it started. _Had_ was definitely the operative word in this situation. Again, he was caring much more than he should.

Xion leaned in, intrigue dancing in her gaze. "You like him. Don't you?"

Axel gaped, before straightening his face and shrugging. "I'll admit, I like the kid's moxie and his musical ability, from what I've seen, is nothing to sneeze at but I don't know him, so no."

The brunette woman snorted, giving the redhead an eye roll. "A recent study at the University of Pennsylvania reveals that regardless of what people say they are looking for in a dating situation, they don't need a lot of time with or information about a person to tell if they're interested. In other words: I'm calling you on your bull."

_Psychology majors suck so much ass_. Axel grimly thought, not daring to vocalize his sentiments, he'd like to leave this little meeting with both balls in tact.

"Anywhoodle little poodle," Xion started "I think I may have a solution to your problem."

"You do?"

"Of course. I'm full of answers." She smiled brightly. Reminding Axel so very much of a serial killer. "You're going to the meeting tomorrow afternoon, right?"

The lanky man nodded warily.

"Good. Just have your apology ready and I will 'Take Care' of everything." Xion instructed, putting air quotes around two words, causing the man to raise a brow. "And stop calling him 'kid'. You've been forewarned and I won't call an ambulance if he breaks your nose because you obviously still have a lesson to learn if it gets to that point."

Axel stood to leave, this entire conversation had his head spinning, his mind was in an even bigger uproar than it had been in last night. He wasn't sure if he'd had some big revelation in the course of this conversation nor was he sure if the very thought of letting Xion 'take care' of things was going to be beneficial to his well-being.

"O-okay, uh, thanks?" Axel responded, very unsure of the status quo. He walked away trying to figure out, if things did go according to whatever crazy ass plan Xion had, what he was going to say to the blonde.

Xion sat at the table and let out a breath she hadn't realized she had cooped up in her lungs. And men said women were complicated creatures, pfft. Pure shenanigans if she had ever heard it. She sat quietly for a while before a mass of blonde mohawk-mullet plopped down next to her.

"So, think your little idea is still going to work?" He asked, his mouth full of what could easily be half of the Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich he was clutching.

Xion looked over slyly. "The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances. If there is any reaction, both are transformed. Carl Jung."

Demyx smiled. "Whatever you say. Part of me still thinks it's hopeless."

Xion snatched a piece of Demyx's sandwich, as she stood up, ignoring his cry of protest. "Unlike you, I'm not a pessimist." She stuck her tongue out at him before popping the food into her mouth and strutting away. Carl Jung was rarely wrong in her book.

* * *

Sora sat down in his favorite spot right outside the cafeteria. It was unseasonably warm today and the blue-eyed brown-haired male was decidedly planning on soaking up as much of the sun's rays as he possibly could. It would just be another addition to his near perfect week. He'd spent majority of it wandering the campus to get away from Captain Pissy Pants (A.K.A. Roxas) and had been approached by quite a few people who had either been lingering after Open Mic Night and caught Dream. Drop. Distance's impromptu performance or had seen the anonymously recorded footage that had been uploaded to the campus website as well as Facebook.

He'd been asked a couple of times if they had any plans to perform again, to release a formal mixtape, EP or LP, and what exactly had gone down between the lead singer of their band and the lead singer of Re:Coded. (This last question gave Sora pause to which he tried to deflect with various answers: i.e. They were just tired. They hadn't had anything to eat all day. Uh, PMS? Before finally just deciding to chalk it up to good old fashion sexual tension. If Roxas or Axel ever asked, he was NOT responsible for that rumor.) He felt just a little like a B-list celebrity.

Sora let out a small hum of contentment as he leaned back in his chair, he'd finished his assignments ahead of time and his last class of the day had been cancelled. Nothing could make today any better.

"Hey, Sora!"

The seated young adult shot up at the sound of his name, looking in all directions before finally his eyes rested on a man of tall, athletic build and aquamarine eyes, slightly squinted from the glaring sunlight of the afternoon.

"R-Riku?" Sora half-asked half greeted, as he weakly raised a hand to greet the bassist. He could feel the knot-tying competition start within his stomach.

Well, so much for feeling content.

The brunette male was very unsure about this guy. Since a certain brother of his refused to spend more than a couple of hours outside of his dorm, he'd taken to tagging along with Xion during his downtime. It just so happened she frequently spent her lunchtime with Demyx and Riku (Axel had been M.I.A.). Sora found Riku to be a cool guy and he really enjoyed the time they all had been spending together. But every time he saw the silver haired male, he automatically did a mental instant replay of their first encounter.

That was when his mind decided that no one's eyes, especially a male's, should be able to hold his own gaze so intently as they shook hands back in the practice room. It had taken hours for Sora to come up with a plausible reason as to why a guy made him feel the same way he felt whenever he met an interesting girl.

Sora's reasoning: Yeah, he never got around to that, somewhere between meeting up with Roxas and a vicious pillow fight, he forgot to come up with one.

The brunette had only found himself in this kind of situation once before back in high school. He remembered catching himself, one too many times staring, a little too intently in the locker rooms but chalked it all up to teenage curiosity. This was a completely different ballpark.

"How's it going?" Riku asked, gesturing to the chair, non-verbally asking if it was okay to join. Sora nodded.

"Uh, it's uh, g-going pretty go-good and uh, you?" Sora internally winced at the number of sentence fillers that infiltrated his simple reply.

"Great, actually. I was just coming back from the practice rooms and saw you here, I'm not interrupting a moment of deep philosophical thinking or anything am I?"

Sora smiled a little at that. "No chance of ever interrupting something like that."

_See, be normal. He's just another guy. _Sora reassured himself, before daring himself to look up at the man sitting across from him.

"Really?"

"Ye-yeah, I'm not much of what most people would call a 'deep thinker'."

Riku pushed his bangs out his eyes a little before quirking up a brow. "Why's that?"

"I guess because I tend to blurt things out without meaning to, I mean, you saw what I contributed to after Open Mic Night." The brunette shrugged with a half sullen look.

"You know, I should probably formally apologize on behalf of Axel and the rest of Re:Coded," Riku flashed a contrite smile. "Axel is what some like to call 'special'. I suspect he may have a condition known as Fuckupperization, along with symptoms of ADHD, we've found the best treatment is usually a thorough ass kicking or sleeping pills. I hope everything is okay, with your brother, I mean."

Sora smiled a little Riku's diagnosis before answering. "Yeah, he stayed locked up in our bathroom for a couple of hours blasting some music that was just _too emo to function_, before Xion got fed up, grabbed her stereo system and played the chorus to Call Me Maybe for 10 minutes until he opened the door. It was... a long and interesting night."

Riku visibly shuddered at the thought. "He was that upset? I'm so sorry you had to go through that." The silver haired man smiled through his sympathetic words.

Sora could finally feel himself relax again as they fell into steady conversation. Talking to Riku one on one was nice. His sense of humor was right alongside Sora's and he didn't use words that made him want to yank out a dictionary, like Roxas and Xion did sometimes. His stomach finally gave up on tying knots, but he still couldn't figure out why his heart insisted on impersonating the quick movements of a butterfly's wings whenever Riku would smile or brush back his bangs giving Sora full view of those ethereal eyes and those wonderfully muscled arms.

Not that he found his eyes to be ethereal or his arms wonderful, it was just how _others_ would describe the fellow musician.

"So, um I was wondering, if you weren't busy tomorrow night. I know it's last minute and everything but the campus is having that mini welcome festival that was scheduled in August but got washed out, thanks to that tropical storm. I was thinking we could hang out?" Riku asked nonchalantly

Oh, hot damn with a side of cold shit. Was Riku asking him out on a _date? _

_Oh, this is bad, very very very...No, it was just hanging out, not a date, certainly not a date. Couldn't be one. It's just hanging out, like he said. Just making friends._ The brunette reassured himself. But still he couldn't ignore that feeling...

_ "_Sure,sounds like fun." Sora blurted, completely ignoring the warning bells that were emanating from his very essence.

Impulsiveness was a sneaky bitch.

"I actually have to go and finish some work. I'm already pushing it with the music, tattoos and homosexuality and all my parents need is another reason to disown their youngest delinquent, so I'll catch up with you tomorrow, yeah?"

Sora's eye twitched, barely fighting the urge to echo the words ' homosexuality' in a high-pitched squeak, before Riku had left the table. Sora wasn't too surprised that he was...gay...I mean he had asked Xion yesterday after lunch, to which Xion responded with a cryptic: "Do you really need to ask?" accompanied by a small smile.

But getting it straight from the horse's mouth was another matter totally. It wasn't like Sora had a problem with it, look at who his brother was for Pete's sake. It was just the yet unexplainable physical reactions that he had from being around the man that gave him pause.

"Aw, hell. What did you get yourself into this time Sora?" The brunette mumbled to himself.

* * *

No matter what anyone said, Roxas was **not** sulking nor was he avoiding the world. It had nothing to do with the comments he had read below the uploaded videos about him and a certain lanky redhead. It also had nothing to do with just a small chunk of his pride that had evaporated. He was just – resting. Last Saturday had been eventful and he needed that Sunday to rest. So, why exactly had he decided that on Monday morning that he was not going to show up to class? And on top of that, why had he used that week to avoid Xion like she had the bubonic plague? That, was exactly what the brunette woman was using that Saturday afternoon to find out as she stood over the male with her arms crossed, toe-tapping the carpet, her voice taking on that nagging air whenever she felt like Roxas needed a good motherly scolding.

"I just didn't...feel like hanging out." Roxas answered simply.

"Avoidance." She retorted.

"I just felt tired –."

"Avoidance." She cut him off.

The blonde sighed. Xion wasn't going anywhere. It was well past 2 in the afternoon and Roxas had only been out of his bed long enough to take a shower, get dressed, curse at homework and curse even more at the idea of leaving the comfort of his dorm to go get food.

"Come on, get up. Quit moping around like a pansy, put on some shoes and let's go."

"Go where?"

"Practice room."

Blue eyes sparkled a little at that idea. Xion smirked a little, she knew those two words could gain a reaction quicker than any other words in any other language. There were two things Xion knew for sure: the promise of music and clowns always lit a fire under the twins butts. Granted, the second one always accompanied a loud, panicked, wide-eyed exclaim of "Holy Shit!"

Roxas sat up, ruffling his blond spikes.

"What for?"

"I wrote a song and I really really want you to hear me perform it."

Roxas gave her a skeptical look.

"Please, Rox? Come on, be the Prince to my Sheila E. I already asked Sora and he said he already had something to do, so pretty please?" She gave a little pout and donned her best puppy dog eyes. Eyes that Roxas could never say no to. She used this tactic so rarely that Roxas had been unable to build up an immunity to it.

"What's it called?" Roxas tried to put on an air of nonchalance as he scanned the room for his shoes. It wasn't very often that Xion was actually willing to share a song she wrote. As much as he somewhat deplored the idea of going out _there, _the prospect of hearing his best friend sing was much more alluring.

"Two-Way Street. And they're under your bed."

"What kind of song name is that?"

"No, Doofus. The song is Two-Way Street. Your shoes are under your bed."

Roxas made a silent "Oh" with his lips and pulled on his Chucks. He grabbed his dorm key and wallet and headed out with his best friend. He took a deep breath as the two of them stepped out of the dormitory, making their way toward the large dome-shaped building where all the arts oriented classes met. He looked around, just waiting for people to start whispering or pointing at him, but it never happened.

"You know, this isn't high school anymore. People could honestly care less about your life, despite what's said in the comment section of a video." Xion spoke up with a sly look. "You don't have to run every time something you deem to be life shattering, happens. You're like a freaking meerkat. 'Scurry, sniff, flinch' It's quite tiresome to watch."

The blonde looked over at his best friend giving her Lion King 1 1/2 quote and observations a good glare. Xion shrugged in a 'I'm just sayin' kind of way.

"I do not run."

"True, it's much more like a sulky saunter. No one does it quite like you. By the way, you shouldn't run in public. Last time you did, I had the overwhelming urge to yell "Run Forest, Run!'" The raven-haired drummer grinned.

"Has anyone ever told you, you're not funny?"

"No, most think I'm an absolute riot. I was thinking of doing stand-up. I've got so much material just from you and Sora."

"Oh, really? Let me know when, so I can have my rotten tomatoes ready."

"Pfft, knowing you and Sora, it'd be rotten watermelons."

"Excellent idea. I should start stocking those for everyday use."

Xion made a face at her best friend. Roxas smiled, actually much happier than he thought he'd be getting some fresh air into system. He mulled over Xion's previous words a little. He didn't always run, he just liked avoiding confrontation. It seemed like whenever he put himself out there, it found him no matter how careful he was to avoid it. He was a magnet for troublesome situations in his opinion. Like Axel.

"He meant well, you know." Xion offered.

Roxas's head jerked towards her. "What?"

"You know what or rather, who I'm talking about."

Two blonde brows furrowed together. He hated when she did that. His brain was decidedly not safe when she was around.

"So, what? You're going to tell me he thought he was being a great help? Cocky attitude and all?"

Xion sighed. "The attitude is just who he is. The trying to help part, yeah, that was a fail. But trust me, he's not a total ass. He meant well."

Roxas scoffed. If a person who called you out of your name, rudely announced your sexual orientation so loudly that other people could hear him, and then attempted to pick apart your psyche unsolicited didn't make them an ass, he didn't know what did. In his opinion if it walked like an ass, talked like an ass, it sure as hell didn't turn out to be a fluffy kitten named Mittens.

"I think you're just upset because he got under your skin. You're pissed he saw through you."

"No, it's just that the very thought of us sharing the same realm of existence, bothers me." Roxas waved a hand as if he could physically dismiss her words.

"Yeah, a bother of the 'hot and' variety." Xion giggled.

"Way off base."

" Yeah, I'm off base, just like what Axel was." Xion responded so quietly, Roxas nearly missed them.

"Whatever, Xi." Roxas muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets.

The blonde singer knew that Xion was usually spot on about people, but this time he had to question her opinion. Although he had to admit, he really did wish the man he saw perform and the one he threw his drink onto, were two different people.

The rest of their journey was made in comfortable and contemplative silence. It wasn't long before they stepped into the frigid A/C the building had waiting. Xion directed him down the hall.

"I thought you had to sign in before you went into a room?" Roxas asked, gesturing back to the sign-in desk.

"Uh, yeah, there's already a room reserved."

Roxas quirked a brow at her suddenly wavering tone, but continued following the woman down the hall. The only time Xion ever spoke with that tone was when she was –

"Here we are." She spoke up before opening the door, leading Roxas into one of the largest practice rooms he'd ever seen.

Until he realized, it was most certainly _not _a practice room. It was the blackbox, which already held about 20 or 30 people on its bleachers.

_Was when she was lying. _Roxas grabbed Xion by the wrist back out into the hall.

"5 Seconds to explain." Roxas hissed.

"See what had happened was..."

"4.5"

"Okay, okay..." Xion began "Look, I may have rearranged the truth just a little. I really am performing my song today, the part I left out was that it's in my music club."

"And you didn't lead with the truth, because?"

"You would've crawled straight up under your bed with some lame excuse about losing your contacts when we both know damn well you have perfect 20/20 vision."

Roxas scowled. Make one really bad alibi and she holds it over your head for life.

"Fine! Fine, I'll stay." The blonde gave in. He couldn't very well leave her out to dry like that. He'd stay but he wouldn't like it. Xion led him back into the blackbox and the two shuffled toward the bleachers when Roxas spotted it. A head full of bright red hair and impossibly green eyes that had yet to notice the two of them. A couple of the other club attendees noticed the way Roxas halted and he could hear them.

"That's the guy from Dream. Drop. Distance, isn't it?" A disembodied voice echoed in his ear.

Time to haul ass.

"On second thought, I forgot social gatherings give me hives," Roxas squeaked, turning on his heels, only to be stopped by a hard grip on both shoulders, much too strong to be Xion.

"Where ya goin, Rox? I can call you Rox, right?" Demyx greeted. "You're gonna miss the show."

"Yeah, what happened to being my support?" The brunette woman pouted.

Whipping out that defense twice in a day, huh? Roxas groaned.

"Fine, but I'm not – " The blonde was cut off as he was pushed in the exact direction he didn't want to go in, and pushed onto the bleachers next to the exact person he didn't want to sit next to. Things never could go his was, could they? He could feel the gaze of emerald-green eyes on his skin. Roxas could feel his skin prickling underneath it.

"Uh, So – ."

Roxas held up a hand, stopping Axel before he could even begin.

"Don't. I don't want to hear it. And if you utter more than five words to me, I will personally rip out your large intestine and skip rope with it, got it?" Roxas warned in a low and dangerous voice.

The blonde smiled, feeling somewhat satisfied as he heard an audible gulp come from the man next to him. Roxas kept his eyes transfixed on the little area of stage ahead of him. He watched as Xion set up, adjusting the microphone to her modest height, a tambourine in her left hand. It was strange not seeing her behind a set of drums, not even the small pair she'd assembled after watching a video of her idol Sheila E so that she could do bits of back up without being confined to the back of the stage. She gestured toward Demyx and two other guys, one, he recognized from orientation named Terra and another guy he couldn't remember, taking on the guitar and keyboard respectively. For the first time since he'd known Xion, she looked nervous.

"Hey, so this is a little song I've been working on for a while now, I hope you like it. It's called Two Way Street."

Well at least she hadn't lied about the title.

She started shaking the tambourine, taking in a deep breath. "..._ the moment you appear , You wake me, wake me, wake me, Out of the slumbers of my head, From the slums of loneliness." _

Roxas was speechless. Her voice was, well, amazing. He hadn't heard her sing like this, ever. He wasn't even aware that she could. She was always stuck behind that bulky drum set. Xion had done back-up vocals on occasion, small hums and "ahhs" but hearing this powerful yet quirky sound come out of the petite female had the man completely astounded.

"Amazing, isn't she?" Axel murmured, falling just below his five word maximum.

Roxas nodded, too taken aback to notice the redhead scoot just a little closer.

"You've never heard her like this before have you? You should come more often, she's a natural."

Roxas blinked up at the man talking.

"She's done this before?"

Axel nodded. "First time she's performed her own stuff, though."

Roxas nodded his own head in understanding that this little club must have been why Axel and Xion had become so close.

"You're way over your limit, you know."

Axel quieted himself, not daring to push his luck. He'd already seen the man mad before, and had no desire for a repeat. They both turned their attention back to Xion who looked much more comfortable on stage now. She bounced the tambourine on her hip with more enthusiasm and commanded the stage with more of her trademark attitude. She powered through the ending with haunting vocalizations that made the hairs on the back of her band mates neck stand on end.

Roxas joined the rest of the club as they got to their feet and showered the woman with applause, a surprised smile danced across her face as she took a small bow, much more earnest than the ones from Saturday night. She turned and thanked the men behind her before making her way back to Roxas who immediately grabbed her in a bear hug.

"That was unbelievable, Xion! How come you've never done that before?" He asked.

The girl shrugged. "I guess I just didn't think I could do it, you know."

"Well, I think you proved yourself wrong." Roxas felt very much like a proud big brother.

"I agree with the ki – I mean, Roxas here." Axel chimed in, earning a half glare from the blonde in question. "Hey, my intestines are staying put. The words were directed at Xion."

Roxas rolled his eyes. Now, that the performance was over he could focus on his initial plan: Getting the hell out of here and away from this guy.

"Well it was fun, but I think I should be going."

"So soon?" Demyx asked, popping up behind the trio, causing Roxas to jump four feet into the air.

Seriously, this guy must be part ninja because he was just too good at showing up out of nowhere.

"Yeah, I have a... pair of contacts to go find." Roxas gave Xion a smirk, who in turn rolled her eyes.

Demyx made a face. "But if you go now, you'll miss the best part of today."

Roxas opened his mouth poised to ask just what that was supposed to mean, when he heard a voice boom over the idle chatter within the room.

"Next up we have Axel Flynn and Roxas Strife performing."

The two men spun around to look toward the stage, then at each other, then to Xion and Demyx who were doing a very poor job of mimicking shock.

"What the hell?" The blonde and redhead asked in unison causing every head in the blackbox to turn towards them.

* * *

A/N: For those who don't know what a black box is, it's a small little theater without a traditional stage. It has a spot towards the front for the performers to do their thing. It's much more intimate than a traditional theater, I find.

Oh, and because I believe so much in writers supporting other writers, I'm giving a little shout out to** meeka-eela** and her awesome story** "Signs That You're In Love With Your Best Friend"** If you have the time, check it out!

As always, thank you for taking the time to read my story! Feel free to tell me how you really feel about it! Next chapter will be up as soon as I can make it happen.


	5. Take Care

Didn't Stand a Chance (At All)

* * *

A/N: Happy New Year, Groovy people of the world! Major thanks to all you fantastically wonderful people who read, reviewed and/or favorited last chapter! There was an epic battle between me, Doctor Who and Vampire Prosecutor to get these 20 pages done. I blame Netflix.

Anyway, how many caught the major hint at the song for this chapter in the last chapter? 2 brownie points if you did.

Song Mentioned: Take Care by Drake feat. Rihanna...but the Leon Thomas III and Ariana Grande version. I like the flow of their arrangement much better. That, and I feel Ariana sings it better. Shutting up now.

* * *

Chapter 5 – Take Care

* * *

_Where the hell was Scotty when you really needed him to beam your ass up?_ Roxas thought grimly as he stared down two very different kinds of evil, in the face.

The first evil was in the shape of a stage and microphone, surrounded by the world's most rag-tag group of musical hipsters. They all carried that distinctive, "I'm too good for most of the Billboard Top 100" air about them. The second evil was in the shape of a six foot-something ginger, whose angular face held, in lieu of its trademark smirk, a meld of shock and confusion directed at the sandy blonde and brunette drummers in front of them.

Roxas backed away slowly, feeling very much like he was standing in the doorway to hell. That was, if he wasn't already there. (He had plenty of evidence to prove that that was in fact, exactly where he was). The blonde man shook his head, his jaw and fists suddenly tight. He needed to get the hell out of there. He stole a glance over at Axel who seemed to be having some kind of silent conversation with Xion and Demyx. This, presented him the perfect opportunity.

While Roxas was completely sure that the two assclowns in front of him had everything to do with this, he wasn't sticking around to confirm his suspicions. He spun around, eager to make for the door. That was, before someone grabbed the back of his shirt causing the front of it to rise up, nearly choking him to death.

"Capital Fuckery." He whined to himself before looking over his shoulder to find Demyx had him again. He was seriously starting to feel like the European Sea Bass to Demyx's expert fisherman. He really needed to learn how to avoid getting snagged by this guy.

"Oh, come on, Rox. You really aren't going to leave before you give your swan song, are you?"

Roxas wrinkled his nose in confusion and fear. "You realize a swan song is a final performance you give before you die, right?" The trapped man looked around to make sure that some Jim Jones look-a-alike hadn't gotten up and started handing out Kool-Aid when he wasn't looking. He hoped it wasn't _that_ kind of club.

"Whatever. You know what I meant."

"If you meant, am I getting up there with the contender for Jackass of the Year, then no. I'd much rather scrub my ass with a sander." Roxas spat, as he tugged his shirt out of the drummer's grasp.

"I swear you and Xion have some really weird fixation on the south end of the human body." Axel muttered before adorning a smirk and looking the blonde up and down hungrily. "Even though that's not totally a bad thing in your case."

Roxas pursed his lips. "And on that note..." He turned to leave.

The blonde heard a small thud that very much a resembled a fist colliding harshly with skin, confirmed by a small yelp and loud expletive from Axel. Resisting the urge to turn and laugh, he kept pressing forward. He had gotten away and was approximately 5 feet away from freedom. He wasn't going to risk it.

"Roxas!"

And then there was the small matter of escaping Xion.

"Nope." He answered loudly, making the 'p' pop extra hard as he closed in on the double doors.

"Roxas Strife!"

"No way, Jose." He muttered under his breath. He was so...close, yet so... far.

"Roxas Freakin' Strife, would you put it on pause for one damn minute!" Xion scolded, before she made a grab for her best friend's arm. "Where are you going?"

"I was trying to put at least 200 feet between myself and Bozo over there. Why? You got some more tricks up your sleeve? Wait, let me go and get my umbrella before you hit me with another downpour of bullshit."

Xion let out a sigh. "Look, I'm sorry that I lied to get you here and I'm sorry that Demyx and I signed you up without your permission."

Roxas crossed his arms, but the tension in his shoulders and jaw had dissipated the second she had touched his arm. He made an exasperated sound. "So why'd you do it?"

Xion scratched the back of her head and cast her eyes downward before looking to her best friend again. "I just – I just wanted you to come back."

Roxas blinked, a barrage of question marks invading his mind. "I haven't gone anywhere."

"Roxas, you've been gone for years. From music, from life. It's like you refuse to see that you're living like some kind of exile. Seeing you having so much fun Saturday night, I guess I just wanted to find a way to prolong that. I just want you to come back, you know?" She confessed quietly, her blue eyes focused on her fidgeting fingers.

Roxas' arms untangled from around themselves, finding their place at his side, his features softening. "And you thought bringing me around Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Devious, was the way to do it?"

The corners of Xion's lip twitched upwards at the new nickname and shrugged. "They seem to spark something in you whenever you're around them."

"Yeah, it's called intense hatred. Google it."

"Come on, Roxas. Just one song, for me. Please. Or if not for me, at least for the people that really want to hear you sing again. Or if not for them, then do it to quell those swirling rumors that you don't like Axel because you're jealous and you drink Carnation Instant Bitch for breakfast." Xion pleaded.

"Did you just come up with that breakfast thing?" The blonde asked.

Xion nodded with a crafty smile.

"Nice." He complimented, before looking behind the woman.

Axel and Demyx seemed engrossed in their own conversation, sneaking glances over at Roxas and Xion. They looked very much like a pair of gossiping teenage girls. He then turned his attention to the expectant audience. Even the club president, who stuck out among the others in his two-sizes, too small Ralph Lauren sweater vest, was patiently awaiting their next move. Then he moved on the microphone and array of instruments that decorated the stage. His eyes slowly traced over each one, taking in and savoring their shapes and design. The blonde would be lying if he said that the microphone wasn't beckoning to him with all the allure and charm of Johnny Depp. On top of that there was the equally seductive possibility of proving Axel wrong.

"You could make him eat those words, you know."

Roxas jumped, his musings shattered. He looked at Xion, flabbergasted.

"Okay, that's it. You're officially banned from that mind reading crap. My cerebellum is totally off-limits!"

Xion smiled, ignoring the banishment. "You get up there and shut that stage down, he'd have no choice but to retract everything he said and apologize."

Roxas scoffed. "Who said I wanted an apology? Or that I even care what he thinks?"

Xion made a face. "Says your week long pity party, Captain Pissy Pants." She replied in a sing-song voice.

Roxas scowled at the use of the Sora given nickname and shifted all of his weight to one leg. He crossed his arms again. He was just a pouting lower lip and a good foot stomp away from looking like a belligerent child. His eyes moved from the stage to Axel and back again, before he wrinkled his nose and turned back to the impatient bouncing woman in front of him.

"What song did you have in mind?"

Xion jumped up and down and squealed and fist pumped. "So, you'll do it?"

Roxas bit the inside of his lip, so as to not grin at her reaction. He adjusted his face back to a scowl before skipping over her question.

"If you signed us up to do 'Beez in the Trap', rest assured that I will not hesitate to do what little Martial Arts I know, all over your ass."

Xion rolled her eyes and took her friend by the arm. Time was of the essence. She knew she had to move with haste so that the fickle blonde wouldn't have a chance to change his mind. She dragged him over to the aptly nicknamed, 'Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Devious' whose jaws were slightly ajar to see Xion back with the guitarist. She looked past Axel and gave the still waiting Club President a quick thumbs up. He nodded in response and scuttled off to go get things ready.

"I'm not gonna lie, I honestly thought you were going haul your little blonde ass through that door and not look back." Demyx laughed, nudging Roxas jokingly.

Roxas managed to laugh in response. "Yeah, well that was my intention, but then, a thought occurred to me."

The shorter blonde male smirked, donning an aura of mischievousness and looked over at Axel, who returned the smirk.

"And what was the thought that stopped you, Roxas?" The redhead asked condescendingly.

Roxas took two steps forward, finding himself eye-level with Axel's lips and realizing for the first time just how much taller his new rival was. The blonde swallowed hard and looked into vibrant green eyes, sincerely hoping he looked just as bad ass as he felt at that particular moment.

"It was the thought that I could get up there and musically... Whoop. Your. Ass." He answered feeling more than satisfied at the small flash of surprise that came and left Axel's face only to be replaced with a wide grin. "Is that right? You think you can keep up with me?"

"Damn straight."

"We get up there, I'm not going easy on you, kid."

"Did I ask you to?"

"Nah, but I'm more experienced than you, wouldn't want you to get hurt."

"Couldn't if you tried. Experience means shit when you're naturally talented."

"So, you're really thinking you can handle me?"

"Again, damn straight."

Demyx nudged Xion as the little volley of testosterone played out in front of them. Demyx tapped her shoulder before leaning down to the short woman's ear.

"Xi, they are still talking about music, right?"

Xion looked at the sandy haired man, then back at the two who were still going at it. She smiled and shook her head. "Honestly, I have no idea." She laughed.

She looked over at the stage, the president was returning her earlier thumbs up. It was time to see if the walk could support all of that talk.

"Hey, you two! Think you can get it back in your pants long enough to get on stage?"

The quarreling duo looked over at Xion, then back at each other, exchanging challenging looks, before separating. Axel managed to sneak one more small smile the now slightly blushing blonde's face before turning to Xion and throwing a lazy lanky arm around her.

"So, where have you hidden my baby?" He asked looking towards the stage trying to discern his guitar from the many instruments that littered the small area. Xion took her hand, firmly placing it on the redhead's face and pushed him backwards.

"Look, don't touch. I don't know where those paws have been. And your guitar isn't here. Neither is Roxas'. She replied simply.

Axel and Roxas exchanged looks.

"You want to try that response again, but this time take out the bull and tell me where the guitars are. "Axel responded flatly.

"Now, surely you know me better than that. Rarely does any kind of bull ever spill from these lips. Your guitars aren't here. Didn't you get the memo? No crutches today."

Roxas blinked. That was why Xion performed without her drums. This wasn't just some display of musical ability. It was one of those lame ass 'let's take you out of your element' exercises that he loathed so much. The blonde felt his heart leap to one of its new favorite places to dwell, his throat.

Well, this was nothing short of a cold slap to the groin.

Axel's eye twitched. This was _not_ what he agreed to. He knew he should have been paying more attention during that last meeting instead of flirting with that sexy brown haired beast with the eyebrow piercing. He never performed without his Eternal Flame nearby.

"Chickening out?" Roxas smirked. The redhead look down at him. Roxas looked like he had snatched the cocky grin right from off of Axel's face. But there was no mistaking the unsure unsteadiness that bounced in and out of those vibrant blue eyes. If Roxas wanted to play, Axel was ready.

"Fuck, no."Axel answered, putting his game face on. "So, my little Ass Thorn," He turned his attention back to Xion. "Although I'm afraid to ask, what song did you sign us up for?"

Xion beamed brightly, causing both of the boys to gulp.

"Take Care."

Roxas wasn't sure if he should mimic Xion's earlier fist pump or turn tail and run. He loved the song, sure, but performing it, was a different matter indeed. He'd always been more of the EmoPopPunk kid with little dabbles into R&B or Indie influences. How the hell was he going to –?

"Not Rihanna!" Axel barked, his hand shooting into the air like an eight year old on a jungle gym.

"Oh, hell to the motherfucking – If you think _I'm_ doing the girl part you've lost your damn –"

"He did call it." Xion shrugged with an apologetic look.

Playground rules, huh? He'd have to remember that. The blonde sighed, using his index finger and thumb to rub his eyes. He'd forgotten that he lived in a perpetual cloud of suckiness. He huffed a little, ruffling his hair. They'd kept everyone waiting long enough and he knew that even if he tried to fight it, nothing would change.

Before Roxas could fully gather himself, he was being pulled in the direction of the stage. A hand with long smooth fingers had closed themselves over his own. He looked up to find Axel yanking him along like some kind of stuffed animal with a determined leer. Before the manhandled man could fully register the way the warmth of this hand tingled up through his arm and throughout the rest of his body, he was distracted by the loud applause that filled the small black room. Roxas looked up and dumbly looked out at the bleachers. The number of people on them had spontaneously grown, along with some of those feelings of anxiety. You just gotta love the way news spread during this little internet age.

It seemed like it took a decade for the two to reach the small square area in the center of the room. There were two microphones standing side-by-side now. Xion had taken over the drums behind them, Demyx had control of a blue bass on Axel's left and the Terra guy was back on the keyboard to Roxas' right. Roxas closed his eyes as his hands took hold of the mic, deciding against removing it from its stand.

"Gonna open them this time?" Axel joked quietly as he pulled his hair back from his face into a loose ponytail.

The blonde sneered. "Shut up, I gotta concentrate on whooping your ass."

Axel smiled, taking in the serene look on his musical partner's face. The kid was too adorable and from the looks of it had no idea. He chuckled before taking his own mic out of its stand. Roxas opened his eyes and looked back at Xion giving her a nod. Roxas heard the crowd quiet and the small winding sound that signaled the opening of the song. His heart was intent on trying to slam out of his chest. He hoped the sound would blend in with the drums.

Roxas let the beginning of the song spill from his lips easily, foot tapping along to the pulsing drum. He breathed in and caught Axel's eyes as he sang of defeat and loss. _  
_

Axel felt a small tightness in his chest as he heard the intensity that was poured into those few lines. His adrenal gland threw caution to the wind, wildly pumping adrenaline throughout his body. He took over the song, jumping in as the beat kicked in. He was intent on erasing the the bit of discomfort the blonde had created.

He turned his attention to the audience, serenading _them_ instead. He tried to block out the strenous work his neurons were putting in. Connecting his inquiries to Xion, about Roxas hours before, to the words currently fueling the song; and how, much like the song said, none of her answers had deterred the redhead from wanting this moment with the blonde (and admittedly a couple more.)

Axel looked over at Roxas and it was clear the music had taken the man, no longer depending on the mic stand for support, his eyes flickered open and closed. He bounced to the rhythm as he mouthed the words, gesturing to and engaging the crowd. He was giving a performance very unlike the one from Saturday. Both their bodies swayed to the beat. Axel danced over to the content looking man, taking his chin in one hand and continued his verse, their faces merely inches apart.

It took everything in Roxas' power to pull away. Axel gave a small smile beforeturning his attention back to the crowd. This was not the same Axel from Saturday night or even just 3 minutes before. The man performing, didn't leave that same acidic burn with every glance and word. Roxas felt each simultaneously rapped and sung syllable dance over his skin. He fought the urge to laugh a little as he started feeling the way he did, what now felt like months ago, though in reality had only been a week. When he sat scribbling sappy song lyrics and daydreaming with a stomach full knotted anticipation.

The blonde danced a couple of steps backwards as they transitioned into the chorus. Before they broke back into verse, Roxas made a quick hand gesture signaling a change. He wanted to take over the second verse.

_"Can't deny that I want you, but I'll lie if I have to.__"_

Axel's brain hiccuped. He could literally feel the hiccup occur as the blonde sung the words. If the redhead didn't know any better (which he didn't) he could have sworn Roxas' words were about to trigger a seizure. He stood blinking for a half-step, before deciding to harmonize along with him, melding their voices together perfectly. His mind did a mini-instant replay of one line that stuck out to him. One line that Roxas had sung with more clarity and emphasis than any other. One line that Roxas had made sure they had perfect visual contact on.

Axel moved closer again, the two of them bouncing to the beat and singing in harmony.

_"Y__ou hate bein__g alone, well you ain't the only one. You hate the fact that you bought the dream, __w__hen they sold you one. You love your friends but somebody shoulda told you somethin'... to save you."_

The beat took over for a couple of seconds. The eerie elderly man's voice, ever present throughout the song, echoed through the speakers. For those couple of seconds the two moved together, the primal beats from Xion's drums fueling the climax of the song, the bass driving the two singer's movements before they came to the final chorus of the song which they sung together, eyes locked. The keyboard's final notes took the song out.

There was a deafening silence as the song ended. Roxas and Axel stopped right where they were, still connected visually. Still lingering to the afterglow of their performance.

Cheers erupted from around them, causing the two to move away and turn to the crowd they had forgotten they had. Somehow, there were even more people now. People that Axel was sure he'd never seen in their small club before. The redhead grinned and bowed for the people. He could see Roxas smiling and waving with incredulity. He leaned over to the blonde.

"Don't look so undeserving, you kicked ass."

Roxas looked over with a teasing look. "You mean yours?"

Axel shrugged. "Eh, I don't know about all that, but somewhere around the second verse I distinctly heard the sound of a converse wearing foot, violently connect with a very deserving ass."

Roxas laughed and pushed the redhead away playfully, as Xion bounced over to the two grabbing the lead singers in a massive hug.

"You guys, that was the most awesome performance this club has ever seen!"

"Blasphemy, nothing could possibly beat Two-Way Street." Roxas nudged his friend, forgetting his earlier silent declaration that after this, he would toss Xion onto the next boat or plane to Guantanamo Bay.

"Yeah, yeah enough of this little cavity creating love fest," Demyx cut in "We can catch the highlights on the internet later, until then, the festival is sure to have started and I'll be damned if it ends without me getting at least 3 funnel cakes and a fried candy bar."

Axel audibly groaned. "Ugh, and when your ass gets so fat we have to roll you through doorways on your side, I will personally take you out back and administer the Old Yeller treatment. No need to thank me, it's what true friends do."

"Let's do it right and make it an entire firing squad. I want in and I'm sure Riku will too." Xion chimed in.

Roxas laughed and shook his head. He was feeling comfortable in the new, hate lessened, air. There was still something floating in the atmosphere that he wanted to clear up. Something he hoped he'd be able to dispel later tonight.

* * *

Sora hadn't felt this conflicted about his life since that time Roxas forced him to sit and watch that 'What What in the Butt' video. Actually, no. That situation still topped his list of 'What the Hell?' Life Moments. But this moment of him standing here on the outskirts of the festival, waiting for Riku and feeling like a total _girl_ was definitely up there in the top 3. The brunette sighed heavily, wishing that he had inherited Roxas' ability to think and rationalize before jumping into something.

"Hey, been waiting along?"

Sora spun around to find an aquamarine gaze directed at him. Sora donned what he hoped to be a look of nonchalance as his stomach began doing Olympic grade flips.

"No, I – uh just got here, actually."

Riku gave a lazy smile, before pointing toward the action.  
"Cool, so what do you say we head in and gorge ourselves on junk food and ride the Merry-Go-Round until we puke? I know they guy in charge of it tonight and all it'll take is 5 dollars to get it on super speed. I'll even buy the first round of processed carnival crap."

Sora grinned wildly. Perhaps there was something to being an impulsive idiot, after all.

"You sure about that? I can pretty much eat my weight in cotton candy."

Riku let out an airy laugh. "Lucky tomorrow's payday then."

The silver haired male gestured toward the entrance and Sora gladly led the way.

* * *

"What in the Blue Jesus is your freakin' stomach made of?" Roxas asked as he watched Demyx scarf down his third funnel cake, fourth corn dog and second deep-fried Snickers simultaneously.

"I've been asking the same thing for a while now and have come to the conclusion that it might take a qualified television doctor to make that kind of deduction." Xion cringed.

"It's like watching a two headed snake eat a live hamster." Axel chimed in.

"Oh, please Ax. It's no worse than watching you down two Four Lokos and half a bottle of Jack Daniels before getting up to do your Madonna routine. Now that shit is something, which no human should ever be forced to watch."

Axel shrugged. "What can I say? I've got a liver of steel and killer moves." He jabbed Demyx in the side with an elbow, followed by a squinted look that clearly urged the drummer the shut his trap.

"Or maybe you're both just freaks of nature?" Xion suggested.

The redheaded waggled his eyebrows. "Wouldn't you like to know just how freaky I am?"

Xion gave a blank stare. "You're cut off."

Axel gave a fake pout. "You are such a fun snatcher."'

Roxas held up a hand, unable to continue his batch of chili cheese fries.

"I'm sorry, I'm still stuck on 'Madonna routine'. He performs Madonna while drunk?"

Demyx nodded. "Vogue and Material Girl. Last time, he fashioned a cone bra out of two old birthday hats and tape." The sandy-haired man laughed.

"Oh, please tell me you have photos!" Xion laughed nearly choking on her candy apple.

"Nah, as soon as Pippi Longstocking over there found out about them, he destroyed them. But I still have a video hidden away he hasn't found yet. I'll show you when we meet up for our writing session." Demyx grinned evilly.

"I'm really wishing that all that fried shit you're shoveling down your throat, gives you a stroke in the next couple of seconds so you can finally shut the hell up." Axel hissed.

The other three ignored the redhead's sour comments as they continued laughing at his expense. As much as he didn't particularly enjoy being the butt of a joke, he didn't mind the company he was in. He caught himself staring at a certain blonde, blue eyed male more times than he was willing to admit to himself. That one line ghosting over him as he replayed it mentally. _Can't deny that I want you, but I'll lie if I ha__ve to. _It honestly didn't help that the guy's singing voice was undeniably sexy. He fought down the urge punch excitedly.

Getting Roxas to tag along had been surprisingly easy. Granted, the blonde had spent the better of the night glued to Xion like a Siamese twin. But the fact that they were in the same space and that Roxas wasn't chasing him through the festival grounds with an oversized shotgun while calling Axel a 'wascally wabbit", was saying something. There had even been some serious talk about Roxas joining the music club and they had agreed on meeting up for a joint songwriting session in a couple of weeks. Axel was admittedly interested in the other musician. But _only_ because the guy was so mysterious. Reserved and quiet one second, and cocky and determined the next. Not to mention, a much better performer than he previously thought.

"Are you Axel, the lead singer of Re: Coded?" A voice asked from behind the redheaded male, saving him from further ridicule. He turned to find a young girl, unmistakably a freshman standing before him. Behind her he could see a trio of other girls giggling behind her.

Oh, fandamntastic. One of _those_ situations.

"Yeah, that I am." Axel flashed his politician smile at the girl.

She giggled before turning to her friends for a second. "I just wanted to tell you, that I think you're an amazing musician and I loved the cover you did with that blonde guy."

Axel stifled a laugh, glancing over at the 'blonde guy' who was sitting just across from him at their little wooden table and bench.

"Well I'm glad we," He gestured towards Roxas "could entertain you this afternoon."

The girl got a little wide-eyed and turned and gestured for one of her friends to come over.

"Well we were just wondering, if, you know, we could maybe all go out sometime?" The initial girl asked.

"Depends. What exactly are your intentions?"

The girls giggled and blushed. "We just think you guys are cute and want to get to know you better, is all."

"Hm, well that doesn't sound too bad. You know, for a second I thought you two may have been trying to get into our pants or something."

Roxas and Demyx both began coughing loudly. Xion set about trying to save the two while quietly muttering sternly for them to 'quit dying', especially since they were so close to her.

The girls blushed, nearly the very definition of the color red.

"Would it be a problem if we were?" The second girl asked quietly, earning a shoulder slap from her friend.

"Well I would say so. I don't think you have the equipment we usually look for in a bed buddy."

The girls recovered quickly. "And what's that supposed to mean?" They asked nearly in unison.

Axel got up from his seat and moved in close to them. "It means... when we go to the buffet, we tend to pick up bananas not apples."

The girls raised their brows. Axel sighed. "We're as straight as a rainbow."

More blank looks.

"We're gay."

The girl's lips formed perfect circles as they backed away before they speed-walking back to their friends with red faces. Axel plopped back down in his seat only to be met with two snickering young adults and one fuming blonde.

"What the hell was that?" Roxas demanded.

"Uh, me getting rid of two groupies. Problem?"

"Yes. Very big problem."

"Would you be kind enough to fill me in?"

"Did you have permission to out me to two perfect strangers?"

Axel blinked and cocked his head to the side. "I wasn't aware I needed permission to give public information."

Roxas scoffed. "It's not exactly public, if they didn't know, now is it?"

Axel shook his head, completely confused now. "I don't get it. You're pissed because I told people the truth? I was under the impression that you were out of the closet."

Roxas sputtered. "It doesn't matter if I am or not. It's the principle."

"No, it's the fact that you're afraid." Axel pushed, very well aware that he had struck a nerve as he watched a tiny vein pop from the shorter man's forehead. "Did you miss the part where I got up at Open Mic Night and sang a fucking song about having a one night stand with a guy without getting lynched, or did you just block that part out because it contradicts your irrational fear?"

Roxas stood up and leaned over the table. "Fuck off, asshole."

Axel couldn't stop himself despite what intuition told him. He stood up to meet the boy's eye level.

"The name's Axel. A-x-e-l. Got it memorized? And am I supposed to be scared of some bitching little boy who has a problem with being honest?"

Axel must have blinked at some point because he did _not _see that fist coming. The only thing he could recall immediately, was the long loud call of 'Holy Fuck!" that came from his mouth as he tripped over the bench and hit the moist grass beneath him.

When he finally stopped seeing double, there was a small crowd at their table. Demyx had his arms around Roxas, apparently leading him off before any school officials showed up. Xion was leaning over him.

"You just got knocked the fuck out." She sighed, helping him to his feet and pressing a napkin to his bleeding lip. "I warned you not to push him, Asshead."

Axel sighed and rolled his eyes. He wasn't that bothered by the split lip he was sporting, nor the questions his bruised face was sure to get him. He wasn't even fazed by the impending berating he was sure to get from Xion. No, what really made his stomach drop into his socks was the thought that his big mouth had just screwed up every and any possible chance he may have ever have had with Roxas.

* * *

Sora's current mouthful of cotton candy almost made a daring escape through his nose as he choked out a laugh. "Hold on, you, Axel and Demyx seriously put sex toys on every teacher's desk as a senior prank?"

Riku nodded, a proud expression on his face. "Right front and center. And we didn't use those cheap metallic ones, either. Axel's all about going for exaggerated realism, if you catch my drift."

Sora shook his head in disbelief. "Where did you even get the money for something like that?"

Riku looked thoughtful for a moment. "You know, I never asked. Ax and Dem just showed up on my doorstep the night before and were like 'look at this!' I never asked how they got them. I'm sure there was probably some major headline that I missed. 'Sex Store Robbed by Spikey Red Haired and Blonde Mullet Sporting Hipsters'."

"I can't believe you guys were never caught."

Riku laughed. "No, we're too smart for that. We write sins, not tragedies."

Sora quirked up a brow. "Well you know, lying is the most fun a person can have without taking their clothes off."

Riku paused and looked over at the brunette as the two procured their over-priced water bottles from the food truck that lay parked next to the Merry-Go-Round.

"Not only did you catch that Panic at the Disco reference, you responded with one of your own. Two for you, Glenn Coco." Riku nodded approvingly.

"And _you're _throwing out Mean Girls quotes? It's official. Us meeting? This friendship? Was destined." Sora gasped dramatically, complete with over the top fortuneteller hand gestures.

The pair laughed as they walked down a line of booths ignoring the calls of their hosts. The two had decided (after they had both spent about $10 trying to win a $5 Mickey Mouse watch at a balloon popping game) that everything was rigged and there was no way in hell they'd get dragged into another. The music blaring out of the speakers around them was so loud they could feel the baseline tremble the ground beneath their feet.

Sora had long forgotten what he was so nervous about initially. From the moment they stepped onto the grounds, the two had talked and joked like they had known each other for years. They swapped stories about their insane band members and lame music jokes throughout the entire night. The brunette had decided that it was worth ditching Xion earlier in the day. He even felt a little better about not telling her or his brother that he was hanging out with Riku. He was sure they would just make a big fuss about it and this, he was sure, was not fuss worthy.

"So, you never told me." Riku started, dragging Sora's eyes away from the mountain of blue fluff he had been focused on. "What exactly is your major? Don't take this the wrong way, but you don't have the air of a Psychology or English major."

"I'm glad I don't. I don't know how our group would work out if we were all sarcastic, smart ass, know-it-alls." Sora laughed. "I'm a Criminal Justice major."

Riku's eyes widened a little. "Huh, that's funny. You'd think I would have seen you around before then."

Sora turned to the silver haired man after a second of trying to decipher his words.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I'm here for Criminal Justice, too. Maybe we haven't run into each other because you're still doing Pre-reqs."

Sora digested this new little nugget of information before replying.

"Very possible. I'm on my last batch of them right now. Maybe we'll bump into each other more often next semester."

Riku flashed one of those bone-melting smiles his way. "Well, we don't have to wait an entire semester to bump into each other."

Sora felt his face heat up a little and shoulder bumped the taller man lightly. "Yeah, I guess not."

Riku bumped him back. "Very mature"

Sora grinned. "Well I am very mature for my age."

The bassist rolled his eyes. "I guess that's true. You don't meet many 13 year olds on a college campus."

The brunette tried to his best to look offended, but the upturned corners of his lips made it near impossible.

"I take offense to that, sir."

"Yeah, that grin on your face fully supports that statement."

The two weaved through the booths for a little while longer, letting the chatter of passersby and blaring techno music, fill their comfortable silence. It wasn't long before they spotted an empty bench and rushed over to rest their fatigued feet before someone else took it.

They sat for a while, Sora polishing off his cotton candy and Riku downing the last of his water, before either spoke again.

"So, what exactly do you plan to do with a degree in Criminal Justice?" The short brunette broke the silence.

"Have you ever watched the show Criminal Minds or the movie Silence of the Lambs?"

Sora nodded.

"That's what I want to do. Analyze behavior, get inside the minds of criminals. I want to catch the baddest of the bad, so to speak." Riku explained. Sora watched as the taller man's face lit up. "Being a Special Agent has always been a dream of mine, but profiling is like a recent extension of that dream. I could go on, but then I might start rambling."

"Go ahead, I don't mind. I like hearing other people who are passionate about their major."

Riku reached over and ruffled the brunette's spikes with a fond look.

"Well, if I did, I wouldn't be able to hear your plans."

Sora gave a small shrug, fighting the inevitable blush he felt creeping.

"Actually I'm not exactly sure what I want to do. I've been bouncing between detective and Special Agent and Criminologist. I know I'm at the point where I should have a clear idea but there's too many options. All I know is that I want to help people. I know I want to make a difference." He let out a thoughtful sigh and began playing with the packaged bag of cotton candy at his side. "Sometimes I wish I were a little more like Xion and Roxas. They always have a plan, they know what they want and who they are. Then maybe I could figure it out and – and I'm going off on a tangent now, huh?" Sora laughed lightly, looking over to his new friend who was looking at him intently.

"Well, Sora, I know I've only known you for a little more than a week now and we may have only been here for about 2 and half hours," Riku began before tossing his water bottle into the recycling bin nearby. "But with the little that I do know about you, I think you're fine the way you are. If you were more like your brother or God forbid, more like Xion, then you wouldn't be you. The really cool, really short guy who can talk in song titles, pick up on obscure movie quotes and be blatantly honest with someone you barely even know. I'm sure you'll figure it out. You have the heart and the passion. Give it time."

Sora leaned back on the bench, ignoring the little spark he felt as his arm grazed Riku's. His shoulders felt slightly lighter. He'd had bits and pieces of this conversation with both Xion and Sora and not to mention his other friend Kairi, but none of them had ever made him feel this at piece afterward.

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say we just had a chick flick moment."

Riku gave a short laugh. "Hey, shit happens. Guess that means we should use a little testosterone flaunting to counteract the estrogen. Want have a go at the dunking tank? I hear they have that one-toothed janitor that likes to chase the stragglers of the Cafe with wet mops."

Sora smiled, bouncing happily from his seat.

"Heck yeah!"

Riku paused, inspecting the newly energized male's face.

"Hey, you have some blue stuff stuck to your face."

Sora tilted his head to the side before he lifted a hand to remove the offending substance.

"Did I get it?"

"No, it's a little more to the left."

"Here?"

"No, hold on a second."

Riku lifted himself from his seat and moved to pluck the little blue bit of fluff from the brunette's face.

"There."

Sora smiled, ready to thank the man before he realized just how close Riku was now. The two of them paused, faces just inches apart.

Oh, hello there, Little Cliché Moment.

Sora had seen this horribly sappy and predictable moment on nearly every Romantic Comedy he'd ever been forced to sit through. (No, he most certainly did not have a secret stash of them, those were just lies that Roxas liked to spread.) But despite knowing exactly what was going to happen, he was frozen. Everything went in slow motion, he watched as Riku moved in closer, eyes locked and open wide. Sora knew that any normal heterosexual would have punched Riku in the gut and taken off.

That was the exact opposite of what Sora wanted. And that was what scared him more than anything else. Because Sora was most certainly _not _gay. He did _not_ like men. He wasn't gay. He wasn't gay. He wasn't –

"I'm not gay!" Sora exploded, tearing away from the now wide eyed, open-mouthed man.

To quote his brother: Capital Fuckery. To the highest degree.

"I... just said that out loud... didn't I?" Sora squeaked. His voice had gone up several octaves above what any man his age should have been able to reach.

Riku nodded cautiously. The brunette was slowly becoming aware of the number of people that were now tuned into them. Sora was blushing so hard now, he was sure he was going to hurt himself. He backed away a little more. On the list of ways one can fuck up a moment, this was undeniably number one.

"I-I'm j-just gonna go n-now." Sora sputtered. He turned to leave before remembering his bag of cotton candy. "I-'m gonna take this, uh...Yeah."

He grabbed his bag off of the bench, as he took care to avoid looking Riku in the face. He then backed away and took off, pushing through the still lingering crowd of nosy spectators.

Sora knew one thing for sure, he had to get the hell away from there and fast.

* * *

A/N: Does anyone know what movie Xion quoted after Axel got punched? Major cool points if you do.

If you've never seen the "What What in the Butt" video, and have some time to kill/want to permanently scar yourself or a friend, I suggest you go ahead and YouTube it, right this now. (That is not a typo.)

As always, thanks for reading, and feel free to lay claim to a bit of my soul and gratitude by typing away what you thought of this chapter, or the story in general, in that little box below. I promise to update ASAP!


	6. Give Me Love

A/N: Is it just me or are these chapters getting longer and longer? If you guessed the movie, _Friday _last chapter, you're forever an Awesome Cool Kid in my book. Thank you to all you wonderfully fantastic humanoids who reviewed and favorite and followed. Especially my two guest reviewers who I couldn't thank with a PM. If I could, I'd give you all free hugs and giant cupcakes. Instead, here's my soul and undying gratitude, as promised. Go on, take it.

* * *

Songs Mentioned: You Got It Bad by Usher and Give Me Love by Ed Sheeran

Didn't Stand A Chance (At All) Chapter 6: Give Me Love

* * *

September had cleanly melted into October. The air was progressively getting cooler and summer shorts and tank tops had been exchanged for jeans and hoodies. At that particular moment the sun was beginning to dip behind the various buildings scattered about the campus grounds, radiating various hues of orange and yellow. Fall was becoming evident as the leaves changed and slowly fell to the ground. Inside the Café That Never was, Xion stared irritably out of the window. She thought it rather unfortunate that leaves were the only things "falling" around here.

The dark-haired woman was at a complete and total loss. Over the course of the past few weeks, her two best friends had transformed from the quirky and quip-filled Strife Brothers, to the two lamest superheroes ever. Bitchman and his faithful sidekick The Finicky Ferret.

It had taken a couple of days for the swell of Roxas' knuckles and the gossip mill to go down. To avoid it all, he spent even more time in his dorm. Most of the time, just plucking away absently at his guitar or sat with his nose jammed into his textbooks. But whatever he tried to appear occupied with, obviously failed. She'd caught him more than once absently staring off into space lightly humming or strumming 'Take Care'. Whenever she would try to mention it, he'd scowl and start complaining about something completely unrelated. Like grumbling about not being allowed to have waffle irons. According to Roxas, if a person wanted waffles at midnight in his dorm, then he should be able to make his own "damn waffles in the comfort of his own damn dorm".

(Xion had quietly determined that waffles was code for sex and Axel was the waffle iron.)

Sora had started going out of his way to avoid both Roxas and Xion, disappearing for hours at a time. She'd lost track of the number of 'Have you seen my twin idiot?' texts she'd received from Roxas, just this week alone. Flat out asking the fidgety brunette what was going on, hadn't gone over particularly well either. Each time she'd even hint at his odd behavior, he'd get wide eyed and quite literally, run away like a startled deer. Demyx and Riku seemed to have a clue as to what was going on, but no matter how many threats she tossed out, neither of them would talk. (And seeing as how torture was generally frowned upon by school officials and law enforcement alike, she was pretty much out of ideas.) The woman thought to ask Roxas about the attitude change, but figured that would be the equivalent of asking a politician about what they intended to do about the current state of affairs.

Completely and utterly useless.

And she wouldn't even begin to think about the big, red and hopeless lump Axel had become. The redhead wouldn't admit it but she knew by the roundabout way he'd ask about Roxas, (i.e. "Hey, you had that Sociology class today right?" "The one I have with Roxas?" "Uh, yeah. How was it?" "As okay as can be expected. You should stop being such a little bitch and just talk to him yourself.") That he really wanted to apologize. He was just too much of a wuss.

Xion was debating whether or not she should start passing out Midol and tampons. All preconceptions that men were much less messy than women had flown the coop. At this point she'd much rather sit and try to help Kim Kardashian solve her problems. And that was saying something.

She was also starting to think that this entire situation was much bigger than she was and very much out of her control.

"You're just realizing this?" Demyx asked incredulously as he sipped on his free extra-large Mountain Dew. "And they call me the slow one."

Xion pursed her lips before flicking a wadded straw wrapper at Demyx's face. He evaded it and gave her a smug look. Xion had managed to get Demyx to show up with the lure of free soft drinks and hot wings. She made a face and began fidgeting with her bangs. She needed someone to dump her woes on and Demyx was the best she had. Even if he was as about as helpful as wet toilet paper most of the time.

"You're supposed to be helping me figure this out, not just sitting there with your outdated hairstyle and horrible imitation of sarcasm while inhaling my employee benefits like a Hoover."

She reached across the table to smack the soda from his hands, but the sandy blonde evaded the assault. Demyx straightened himself and moved the straw from his lips with an eye roll.

"Well, what do you want me to say? You basically took two race cars going at about 70 mph and rammed them into each other and expected them to come out singing and hugging."

"Yeah, I'm not going to even begin to point out the plot holes in that metaphor."

Demyx gave her a slight glare before moving on. "Did you actually think that things were going to go well?"

Xion nodded. "Well, yeah. If I had any reservations I wouldn't have bothered. I thought it might be a little difficult but then it'd be a little like how you see it in the movies. Two people, seem like complete opposites but realize they're much more alike than they first thought and they heal and learn from each other. Then there's a shit ton of rainbows and tap-dancing lollipops and candybars."

The dark-haired woman propped her head up on the heel of her hand and looked thoughtfully out of the large window behind the sandy blonde. He placed his drink on the table and took a good look at his friend. She didn't know it, but Xion could be pretty damn transparent.

"You're such a naïve little romantic, Xi."

She shrugged and looked back at him with a small smile. "I know."

"Life isn't like the movies, though."

Her smile fell a little. "I know."

"And you seem to forget you're dealing with Mr. Wouldn't Know Subtle If It Came Up To Him, Did An Irish Jig, and Kicked Him In The Junk."

Xion pouted and rested her chin on the table, suddenly feeling restless. She fidgeted as her cousin smacked away on his food, licking the grease from his fingers. She made a small whimpering sound.

"I blame you." She whined.

Demyx gave her a questionable look as he reached out for another hot wing. "How? Why?"

"You and Riku spoiled him. He's like a big kid. You tell him: "Don't you touch those cookies." He does anyway, you give him a look, he whines, you say 'fuck it' and let him have his way. There aren't any consequences." She sat up again, this time crossing her arms.

Demyx sat back in his chair a little, the corners of his mouth lifting. "What should we do then?"

Xion smirked back. "Take your belt off and whoop that ass."

Demyx threw his head back and laughed loudly. Her answer and its wording taking him for a loop. "Okay, first of all, we're talking about Axel here. Knowing him, he'd enjoy it and that's just, ew. Second of all, Xion, do me a favor and don't have kids."

"Please. Even _I _know, one of me, is enough. The world has enough trouble trying to keep up with all of _this._"

Demyx coughed, nearly swallowing his chicken wing, whole. "I can't believe how humble you are."

"Pft, Humility's reserved for fat camps and ugly people."

"Please, don't start using Axel's catchphrase."

Xion giggled and snatched a stick of celery from Demyx's basket. She nibbled on it thoughtfully.

"Guess I can't talk much. I baby Roxas and Sora entirely too much," She sighed.

"It's kind of a side effect of being too close. It's kinda why psychologists don't take on friends as patients. You can be upfront with Axel because you haven't been around as long as me or Riku. And Axel listens to you because you can be as blunt as he is. I mean, you basically strong-armed your way into what's been a small circle of three for years now, I think he respects that. "

"That, and because I'm always right, right?

"Lies."

Xion wrinkled her nose at her cousin. "Unfortunately, Axel hasn't learned that a similar tactic won't work on Roxas."

"That's probably because Rox, is more uptight than a nun in a strip club."

"Never have truer words been spoken."

The two sighed in unison. Xion squirmed in her seat. She was finding it hard to get comfortable. She didn't know how to sit still when there was so much to fix. She just wanted Reality to stop butting into her plans. She wanted to grab a knife and physically cut through the tension that had engulfed them all like a thick fog.

Xion went back to nibbling on her stick of celery and Demyx shoveled his last bit of hot sauce drenched poultry into his mouth, before sucking up the last of his drink. The suction made a loud hollow sound as he reached the last couple of drops.

"You can't just slap two people together and expect them to figure out stuff with each other, that they can't even admit to themselves, you realize that right?"

Xion gave no indication that she heard the man in front of her as she furrowed her brow and chewed on the inside of her cheek. Her eyes fixated on a spot on the table while she tapped her chin repeatedly. Demyx paused before frowning.

"Oh, no. Not that face. I always get bad vibes when you make that face. Shit tends to hit the fan when you make that face."

"Maybe we _can_ slap them together. But we have to do it the right way."

"Xion, give it up. Just let it –."

"I have an idea."

"Aw, hell."

Xion jumped up from the table, a pleased expression on her face.

"I have to get back to work."

"Whatever you're planning, leave me out of it."

"Pity. And here I was going to offer you a giant and not to mention free slice of Red Velvet cake."

Demyx's eyes darted over to the cake display. He nearly drooled on the table as he eyed the moist dessert. He then looked back to Xion then back to the cake. Food was his kryptonite and that evil little minx in front of him knew that very well.

"This offer expires in 5, 4, 3, 2, –."

"Alright! Damn." He groaned, already (partially) regretting his decision. "You're so small, yet so evil."

"Aw, stop flattering me, already." Xion feigned a bashful look. She picked up her apron off of the back of her chair. "Well, I have to get back to work. I'll call you later and we can hash out the details. And I'll tell that one kid that you drool over almost as much as you drool over food, to bring your cake over."

Demyx smiled brightly, all regret fading fast. "Did I say evil? I meant, best person, like, ever."

"Flattery gets you everywhere!" Xion called over her shoulder as she made her way back behind the register. She was eager for the clock to strike 7. She had some serious planning to do.

* * *

Sora was beginning to think that he was quite possibly a ninja in a past life. He had no other way to explain how he managed to climb up on top of the toilet bowl and shimmy through an impossibly small window in the men's bathroom before strolling away without arousing any suspicion. Some may call his little escape an overreaction. He called it survival.

This is what his life had boiled down to in recent weeks. Whenever he caught a glimpse of silver hair in the cafeteria, he'd dump his food into his backpack and book it. A sighting of aquamarine eyes in the hallways as he was leaving class, would equal to Sora squeaking and ducking into the nearest classroom, empty or not. (He had even managed to inconspicuously catch a nice little lecture on Zombies in Popular Media.) But even he had to admit that this, was getting a little ridiculous.

It was this admittance that led him to the small grassy knoll that he had discovered the night he'd run away from the festival. He'd found it after wandering around campus for hours, unsure of where to go. He couldn't have gone back to his dorm in his freaked out state, he would have had to explain himself if his brother or Xion had been there. And he wasn't ready for that just yet. Even he didn't know what was going on. But he needed to talk to someone. Someone he knew that wouldn't overreact no matter what he said.

Sora yanked a small dark blanket out of his backpack and placed it down on the grass before sitting on it and pulling out his laptop. He waited impatiently for the machine to boot up and as soon as it did, he went straight to his video chat program. He smiled. She was online, just like she said she would be. He clicked the 'call' button, and bounced eagerly for it to be answered.

"How's my favorite vertically challenged dork?" A young woman with tanned skin and blue eyes and strawberry red hair, filled his screen. She smiled warmly at him and Sora returned the grin two-fold.

"Not nice, Kairi. I'm not a dork." Sora answered sticking out his tongue playfully.

"At least you no longer deny you're short." Kairi leaned into the screen, examining the man carefully. "Uh, Sora, is that paper in your hair?"

Sora froze before reaching a hand up and ruffling through his messy spikes, causing little bits of white toilet paper to fall into his lap.

"Uh, would you believe me if I said it was snowing?"

"Snow. You want me to believe it's snowing in Radiant Gardens? You also want me to believe that the snow just happened to land on your head and nowhere else? I know I'm not the brightest bulb in the box, but even that's not getting past me." She gave him a look of genuine concern. "Is everything okay? You have bags under your eyes. Are you sleeping? Do I need to make a visit?" She raised an eyebrow at the man questioningly.

Sora mustered up a smile and shook his head. "I want to tell you everything is okay, but I'd be lying."

Kairi frowned a little. Sora could see her shift on the bed she was sitting on, so that she was lying on her stomach. She was obviously preparing for a rather long discussion.

"What's going on?"

Sora sighed. "I think I might like someone."

Kairi's mouth dropped open an inch before she blinked at her computer screen.

"So, wait, you're giving me reality TV drama because of a crush? The last time I saw you look so distraught was when they cancelled the Powerpuff Girls. I thought something was really wrong."

"I thought we agreed we would never bring that up again." Sora grouched.

A small giggle fluttered from her lips causing Sora's frown to dissipate. "Sorry. But really, all of this because of a crush?"

Sora sighed. "It's not just that I like someone. I may or may not have freaked out on them_ and_ fled the scene. I feel bad and I want to apologize but I don't know if I can face them again."

Two red eyebrows furrowed together. "Is it really that bad?"

"Kai, the other day, I did a tuck and roll into the middle of someone's Spanish oral report just to avoid this person. It's that bad."

Another barrage of giggles erupted from the auburn haired girl before she could cover her mouth to stop them. "Sorry. It's not funny. But honestly Sora, how on earth can it be that serious? I mean, well let's rewind. Tell me something about this mystery girl. What does she look like? How old is she? How tall is she?"

Sora gulped and diverted his eyes from the screen. His best friend's enthusiasm was making his mouth go so dry, he feared that the friction that was caused from him clearing his throat, would start a fire. He had been half-hoping they could skip the detailed questions.

Yeah, as if a Journalism major would ever let the little details slide.

"Uh, Silvery hair. Athletic build. Aquamarine eyes. 22. About 6'2."

Kairi paused for the second time. "Uh, wow. Is she a model or uh," She let out a little laugh before continuing. "Maybe a drag queen? Her name isn't Amanda is it? Remember that discussion we had? If she's over 6 feet, Amanda might stand for A-Man-Duh."

Sora shook his head. His face felt so hot he thought he might spontaneously combust. Which in reality, might actually be a good thing. At least he would have to deal with his feelings anymore. Kairi's amusement died on the spot as she examined her friend's expression. Her eyes widened a little. The redhead liked to play dumb but she was very much like Xion and caught on quickly.

Their hometown of Destiny Islands, didn't raise no fools. (Well, except for Roxas of course.)

"She is…uh actually a he, huh?"

Sora nodded, finally looking back to the screen. He waited for her to say something. The small expanse of silence stretched for what felt like forever.

"Oh my days," She breathed.

Sora felt his stomach drop all the way to his ankles. His palms started to sweat. Here it comes.

"I knew this day would come."

"Say what?" Sora did a double-take. He stared at her, his mouth working uselessly.

She sighed a little, a small sympathetic smile creeping across her face.

"Sora, we've been best friends since we were kids. We dated for five years. Do you honestly think that in all that time, I didn't pick up on certain things?"

Sora was beyond confused now. What in the actual hell was she trying to say right now? Now, he was starting to understand what Roxas meant whenever he announced he needed a tall shot of Everclear.

He stared back at his ex-girlfriend. Words completely escaping him. Did that mean that she had these thoughts when they… and when they…

Oh, Great Buckets of Fuck.

"Come on, don't look like at me like that."

"You think I'm gay, don't you?" Sora gaped.

"What? No!" Kairi exclaimed, sitting up again. She held up two hands to stop the boy before he went into histrionics. "Let me put it this way, gay guys don't usually do the things we've done, so…enthusiastically. It's just that sometimes I noticed you sometimes seemed a little drawn to the male anatomy, you know?"

Sora's shoulders slumped guiltily. Those waves of shame he felt way back in high school, whenever he'd meet Kairi outside of the locker room, began rising in his throat like sour bile.

"Have you talked to Xion or Roxas about this?"

Sora shook his head before clasping both hands over his face, rubbing it firmly. "How do you even start a conversation like that? Hey, guys. You know how you all thought I was completely straight all of these years? Well, PSYCHE!" Sora joked flatly, adding jazz hands for emphasis. "Oh, good grief, I'm even making jazz hands now!"

"Sora, just breathe for a minute."

Sora obliged and drew in a deep breath before slowly letting it out.

"Sorry, I guess I'm just freaked out. Finally saying it, versus just feeling it is just…"

"I get it. But flipping out over it, isn't going to help anything."

"I know," Sora took another breath. "So, what does all of this even mean?"

Kairi gave him another warm look.

"Well, maybe it means you're bisexual." The red-haired woman offered carefully, measuring the small look of terror that engulfed her friend's face. She donned a small smirk before continuing. "That or…what did that singer that was in that video with Roxas call it? Try-sexual."

Sora raised a brow. He was momentarily distracted from his current emotional distress and a little afraid of what the answer could possibly be to both of the questions that sentence raised.

"Okay. One, what? And two, what?"

"One, Try-Sexual. Means you'll try anything or anyone at least once. Two, that tall redhead musician. Xion sent me the link to the videos and telling me everything. Totally off- topic and I know it, but that guy is hot and their chemistry is undeniable. If Roxas hasn't jumped on that, I'm coming down there, getting them both drunk and I'm tossing them into the nearest closet until nature takes its course."

Sora's eyes widened before he burst in laughter. He could hear Kairi join him seconds later. It took a while before either of them could even attempt to regain their composure. Sora scrubbed the tears from his eyes with his sleeves.

"Oh, Kai, if you only knew."

The redheaded woman coughed a little, trying to get herself back to normal.

"Well, you can tell me all about it after we finish our initial conversation. I can only tackle one crisis at a time."

Sora nodded, feeling happier than he had in weeks. This was what he needed a release and his original best friend. Xion was great but she was no substitute for Kai. Kairi and Sora had been best friends since they first met in 1st grade. He knew he was in good hands now and that while this conversation wouldn't be the end-all to everything, it would give him a starting point.

Even though distance and time had caused their romantic relationship to slowly evaporate, their friendship never did. Many people had come and gone in the brunette's life but when Kairi said that she would always be there, was always with him, she meant it. Sora always found comfort in knowing that.

* * *

Roxas had been slumped over this paper for hours now, just trying to come up with something that didn't sound like he yanked it out of the World's Most Craptastic Pile of Crap. He so desperately wanted to write, to ease away from the dark cloud that been floating over his head ever since he'd decked that idiot.

Roxas groaned as he crossed out another line. He tapped the top of the pen against the desk before crossing out another line. He frowned before deciding to just free-write, writing down the first things that came to mind.

Food.

Hunger.

Burger.

Tomato.

Red.

Fire.

Tall.

Funny.

Tattoos.

Talent.

Regret.

Oh, Shit.

Huh, well that little exercise was full of fail.

Roxas jumped at least a foot as he heard five knocks in rapid succession at the door. He grabbed the paper of off the table, crumpled it up and tossed it into the trash. He then grabbed the trashcan and shoved it up under the desk. Better safe than sorry.

"Uh, w-what's the password?"

"If we were made in his image then call us by our names."

The blonde took a shallow breath before getting an idea to distract her from his undoubtedly flustered face. He picked up a ruler and pointed it at the door. "It's open."

Xion walked through the door, mouth open ready to greet her friend, only to stop at the sight of the ruler.

"What the _what_?"

"Hello, my name is Roxas Strife. You killed my writing flow. Prepare to die."

"Princess Bride, really?"

"Says the girl whose car has a bumper sticker that says: "My other car is a TARDIS."

"Hey, any words against 'Doctor Who' is considered blasphemy. It's punishable by death, which would be administered via Arsenic pie."

Roxas gave her a bemused look. "You're an idiot."

Xion blinked at him. The woman opened her mouth to reply only to stop and look out of the window. Her eyes grew in size as her hands flew to her mouth in shock.

"Oh, my GOD!"

Roxas turned to follow her line of vision, alarmed and ready to spring into action.

"What?"

"_You're_ a dumbass."

Roxas pursed his lips and threw a rubber eraser at her arm. More upset at her for giving him a mini-heart attack than for the insult.

"Don't you have an appointment to go make some orphans cry?"

Xion grinned deviously picking up the eraser and throwing it back. "Nope, not until seven."

Roxas caught the eraser and made a childish face. Xion mimicked him before she plopped down on Roxas' bed and made herself comfortable, pulling her knees up to her chest. He shook his head and turned his chair to face his best friend. Having her here was instant relief. The less time he was left to stew in his own thoughts, the better.

"So what were you writing?"

The blonde shrugged. "I was trying to come up with some new song ideas, but," He raised a hand and tapped his temple with his index finger. "Bone dry."

Xion hummed a little. "I hot-boxed my apartment just to come up with this song, but writer's block kept winning so I let it tag along."

"Interesting. New song?"

Xion nodded. "Yeppers. I still haven't decided on a title for it yet. Axel was helping me write it. Axel, Demyx and I have actually been collaborating on quite a few songs. Demyx is a crazy good musical arranger and Axel is a surprisingly good lyricist. I can understand why they're such a popular local band."

Roxas felt his jaw clench.

The idea of Xion distracting him: Also full of fail.

"Huh." He breathed shortly, spinning back around to face his desk.

"Ruh-oh," Xion replied with her Scooby-Doo impersonation. "Mood shift. I say something wrong?"

Roxas turned partially so he could see the girl in his peripheral. "You think?"

"Am I going to get put in time-out? My cookies and juice revoked?"

Roxas turned, suddenly feeling illogically incensed. "It's a joke to you?"

"Well, yeah, isn't that our thing? 'Take nothing seriously'. Well that and 'Anger all the old folks.'" She smiled innocently back at him.

Roxas laughed bitterly. He was somewhat insulted that Xion didn't think that he could see through what she was trying to do.

"Maybe that's the problem. Maybe more things should be taken seriously. Something is obviously amiss if my best friend is happily going off and fraternizing with the enemy and then coming back to me to gloat about it."

Xion scoffed. "Oh, I didn't realize I had to check with you before I decided to have a writing session with _my_ friends. Sorry, Dad. Look, just because _you_ had to haul off and punch a guy halfway to the remains of the Dalek home world, doesn't make him _my_ enemy."

Roxas spun the chair around, completely facing Xion now. He could feel his heartbeat quicken and fists clench.

"Why are you always defending him?"

"Because he's a good guy. He's funny, talented. He's a cool person."

"Then _you _date him."

"Uh, no, ew." Xion cringed. The very idea made her want to upchuck. "Besides, I'm on team 'apple' and he's made it quite clear he's on team 'Banana'."

"More like Team Self-centered Jackass."

"You know, if you'd stop judging him for a second and just stop to get to know–"

He looked at his friend in astonishment. "I'm sorry, I'm the one judging him? Did you not hear all the shit he's said to me?"

Xion sighed and unfolded herself, moving so that her feet were touching the floor. This was most certainly not going as planned. She had a feeling he'd be a little irked when the topic of Axel came up but she didn't think that he'd go all Maleficent on her.

She guessed pulling out the Midol and Tampons she'd packed in her purse as a joke, wouldn't go over so well right now.

"Cool your jets, Strife. I'm not condoning his behavior, he was totally out of line. But maybe hitting the guy and risking expulsion or something, was a little much?"

"Announcing my sexual orientation to two bimbos in a crowded area, was a little much. Calling me a bitch, was a little much. Punching him was mild, compared to what I wanted to do."

Xion was quiet for a moment. She chewed on the inside of her cheek. This was escalating quickly but she knew she needed to force herself to act on what she and Demyx had talked about. She couldn't baby Roxas anymore. She always tried so hard not to push him, to not antagonize him. But perhaps it was time to stop avoiding the tough issues.

"_Are_ you afraid, Roxas?" She asked in a low voice.

The blonde looked at her, slightly dumbstruck. "What?"

"Are you afraid? For people to know, I mean."

Roxas sat back and shook his head adamantly, not bothering to hide the twang of annoyance in his voice. "No."

"Then why? Why hide so much? Why not go out on dates? Why not perform?"

"_Why _are you asking me this now?" The blonde sighed, feeling extremely uncomfortable now. He wanted to be alone. He wanted her to leave this entire situation alone.

"Because," She took a deep breath. "I think you are afraid."

"You think I'm afraid." Roxas stated more than asked.

"Maybe you are. Maybe you're stuck in your own personal time warp. You look 21, but really you're still 15 year old Roxas. Still that kid getting boo-ed off of stages, attacked..."

"Shut up Xion."

"You want me to shut up because I'm right? I'm not shutting up anymore Roxas. We keep sweeping this shit up under the rug. It's not working anymore. There's this big ass mound under it and I'm tired of tripping over it."

Roxas glared at her and she knew she was approaching thin ice. She could feel things getting unsteady. Their friendship had become a mutual agreement of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'. And she was breaking that first golden rule.

The blonde turned away from her. Giving her nothing more than a view of the back of his head.

"Why do you have to keep pushing this?" He asked, dropping his hands into his lap with frustrated flair.

Xion got up off the bed and spun the chair around so that the two of them had perfect eye contact.

"Sitting in a room for hours on end isn't you. Walking around like a zombie on crack, isn't you. Hiding stuff from me, isn't you."

Roxas pushed his chair back and moved away from her. He didn't feel comfortable being this close to her right now. He didn't want her to pull that little mind-reading trick. Not now.

"Well, maybe I changed. You ever thought of that? Maybe I ran out of fucks to give. Maybe you should just mind your damn business and_ let_ me be alone! I never asked you to be a fucking shield or –"

Xion held her hands up to stop the blonde.

"Wait, wait, wait, rewind. What do you mean, 'you never asked me to be a shield'?"

Roxas groaned before smacking himself on the forehead as he realized what he said. Of course she caught onto that.

Smooth move, Rico Suave.

Xion examined him for a minute. Roxas shifted uncomfortably, he could almost feel her eyes trying to probe his mind. She looked at him expectantly and he knew he had to fill the silence with an explanation or she'd try to fill in the gaps in herself.

"Remember the end of sophomore year and I got into that really bad fight with Seifer?"

Xion paused, and looked away, trying to conjure the memory. "The one where Sora got thrown in the fountain by Rai?"

Roxas cringed at that recollection before nodding. "Yeah, that was also the one where you tried to pull Seifer off of me and Fuu came up behind you and hit you."

Xion looked flabbergasted before giving Roxas a disbelieving look. "That never happened. I fell trying to get Sora out of the fountain. If Fuu would have tried that I would have rammed her foot down her own throat."

Roxas laughed and shook his head. "Yeah, you would have if she had hit you with a Struggle bat and not an aluminum one. You just think you hit your head because that was the line we were told to feed you when you woke up and couldn't remember much. After the school calmed all of the parents down and got them to not press charges, which believe me, was a feat because our dads were looking to mount asses over the fireplace, your mom advised us and the doctor that reminding you would be detrimental to a lot of people's health. That and who knew how many heads would explode if everyone knew the gay kid was responsible for Seifer, the new golden kid, getting arrested. And the last thing anyone wanted was more trouble."

The dark haired woman watched her friend with a glazed over expression. Roxas could tell she was trying to find some tendril of the memory to latch onto. He moved and grabbed her by her wrist and sat her down on his bed before he put both hands on her shoulders.

"Xi, I was scared shitless that day. Seifer and his crew took off. Sora had two big ass gashes on his head and leg. I was seven different kinds of fucked up and you wouldn't wake up." Roxas looked away for a moment and took a breath. "You and Axel keep telling me that I'm afraid. And I guess I am, but not afraid because I can't take what other people will do to me. I'm afraid of what they'll do to the people around me."

Xion opened her mouth but closed it abruptly. She started fidgeting with her hands, looking everywhere but at the blonde in front of her. He took his hands off of her shoulders and moved back to his spot at his desk. He faced away from her, his heart hammering erratically against his ribs. He hated remembering Xion splayed out on the concrete, unmoving and eerily quiet. He hated remembering trying to hobble over and fish Sora out of the water. He hated remembering all of those jack-asses who did nothing to help them. They all just stood there, taking pictures and whispering until Kairi had come along with a group of teachers. He hated remembering watching Xion and Sora get loaded into the back of an ambulance. Destiny Islands was a small town and the thought of someone not fitting the already established status of normalcy was incredibly detrimental to them.

Roxas flinched a little as he felt a pair of arms wrap around him tightly. He felt Xion's hair ghost over his cheek lightly as she hugged him.

"We're not in a K-Drama." She spoke into his shoulder quietly after a minute.

Roxas blinked caught off-guard by both her comment and sudden proximity. "Uh, I know that."

"Then you should know, that there is no place for the self-sacrificing, noble idiot archetype. Not to mention, you really suck at it." Xion joked.

The blonde blinked again before chuckling and flicking her forearm.

"Rox, I don't need a bodyguard. I'm the one who knows seven different ways to stab someone with a spork. Music is something you're passionate about and I don't want to be fifty percent of the reason why you won't get on stage. And I don't want to be fifty percent of the reason why you can't be honest about who you really are."

Roxas smiled before reaching up and ruffling the girl's hair. Xion cried in protest as she broke the hug.

She punched him playfully as she tried to shake her hair back into place, effectively ending their little moment. Roxas laughed as she grumbled about the physics of styling short hair or something ridiculous like that. Roxas wasn't sure how he felt after this conversation. He knew it was a long time coming. He knew that finally telling the truth seemed to eliminate a bit of the never-ending knot that had taken up residence in his gut, long ago. What he didn't know, however, was how easy it would be to actually stop being the 'self-sacrificing noble idiot' he'd been for seven years now. Telling the truth to Xion was one thing. Telling the world _again_ was another panic attack inducing matter completely.

* * *

"Axel! Pay attention!" Riku yelled.

"I am paying attention, the damn wheel won't cooperate!"

"Pump the brakes then!" Demyx bellowed.

"They're stuck! Oh, fuck."

"Axel, I just stacked that damn Furby tower, before you even think about knocking it over remember we sell guns and we sell shovels and I doubt you'll be missed." Riku warned.

Axel frantically tugged at the wheel of the motorized shopping cart, trying desperately to avoid the tower of toys. He'd seen Riku mad before and the redhead had long ago determined that he was much _too_ sexy and valued his face _too_ much to put himself on the receiving end of a Riku-style ass kicking. He pressed a button on the cart, causing a loud beeping sound to emit from the machine. He let out a small yelp as he found himself moving backwards into a shelf of Barbie dolls.

"Oh, shit. I'm stuck."

"Only you would manage to fuck up an idiot-proof machine." Riku growled through clenched teeth before pushing the redhead out of the driver's seat.

Axel and Demyx traded glances before looking back at their band mate who was doing his best to figure out just what Axel had done to the shopping cart, which was now stuck permanently in reverse. The redhead and blonde hadn't really intended on showing up at Walmart nor had they intended to really harass Riku during his work hours but Axel was sick of being on campus and Demyx really wanted Twinkies.

Walmart was pretty much their only option, seeing as how every other store held the possibility of encountering a former flame. (Axel had made the mistake of going into a store where a former one-night stand worked and wound up with a face full of Slushie…after he had paid for it.) Somehow, after realizing that there were no Twinkies because the company had gone bankrupt, (Demyx nearly cried) they had managed to find their way to the toy section where Riku usually worked stocking shelves.

It took a couple of minutes before Riku finally got the cart back into working order.

"Remind me again, why the hell are you two here on a Friday afternoon, trying to get me fired, instead of causing mayhem for the general public, like usual?" The silver haired male asked as he smoothed the wrinkles from his navy blue polo shirt and khaki pants.

"Because Axel's having trouble getting his groove back."

Demyx was cut off from furthering his statement by an over-sized rubber ball smacking him square in the back of the head. Demyx jerked around to find Axel whistling innocently, perusing a shelf of Disney affiliated toys. Riku fought to hold in his laugh.

"Roxas on the brain again?" He asked while the sandy-blonde continued giving Axel a death stare.

Axel gave the bassist a stern look. "You wanna get bopped by a ball too?"

Riku and Demyx chuckled at their friend. Axel had become increasingly defensive about any thoughts about a certain blonde English major ever since he took a fist to the face.

"Why don't you just come to terms with the fact that you're a perverted masochist who likes being abused by an eternally grumpy blue-eyed blonde-haired bundle of perpetual angst?" Riku asked, rearranging the shelf of dolls that had fallen over.

Axel frowned before purposefully knocking over a row of Lion King Action Figures.

"You're one to talk. Haven't you been having your own issues tracking down a certain Strife brother of your own?" Axel replied after receiving a glower for his childish retaliation.

Riku tensed a little and stopped. He gave the redhead a dirty look.

"Geez, Riku. You still haven't been able to talk to him?" Demyx spoke up from an aisle over. He dragged his attention from an incredibly sleek looking pogo stick to go back over to his friends. "Did I not describe the hell I went through to get Sora's schedule from Xion without actually telling her why I needed it?"

"It's not my fault," Riku stated defensively, turning away from the toppled Barbie dolls he'd been trying to fix. "Two days ago, the guy literally jumped through the bathroom window to get away from me. Trust me, it's not for lack of trying. I feel even worse knowing that he's going into Power Ranger mode just to avoid me."

Demyx shook his head at his two friends as they seemed to collectively let out frustrated sighs. He had never seen either of his friends in such a conflicted state. It was as if the Strife brothers had abducted the Axel and Riku he knew and replaced them with emotionally conflicted saps. Demyx's lips curled deviously, finding it an appropriate time to torture his best friends as he sauntered back over to the pogo stick.

"I believe Usher said it best:You got it bad when you're out with someone but you keep on thinkin' bout somebody else –"

"Shut it, Demyx!" The other men scolded in unison. The sandy-haired drummer quickly quieted himself before breaking into a fit of silent giggles. Xion was right, messing with the dazed and confused was fun.

Axel covertly leaned around the corner and threw another ball, hitting Demyx square in the face effectively ending his laughter. He then ran to stand beside Riku before Demyx could grab the ball get back to the doll aisle and retaliate. The drummer didn't have the best aim and Axel knew he was much less likely to attack the redhead if there was a chance he might hit Riku. Demyx maybe reckless but he was no dummy.

"And for your information, you walking Bottomless Pit, I do not 'have it bad'. I'm just…intrigued."

"So, that's what they're calling hopeless infatuation these days?" Riku snickered.

"No, but I hear that sardonic assholes, who scare off spikey haired brunettes, are being called 'Riku' these days." Axel retorted before he could continue his initial point. "I've come to the conclusion that the only reason my mind keeps going back to Roxas is because he's probably the only guy I've ever been attracted to that I haven't done had an 'amorous congress' with."

Riku and Demyx exchanged looks before turning back to the redhead.

"What?" Riku asked with a light laugh.

Axel rolled his eyes. "You know, the 'horizontal monster mash'."

Riku snorted at the lost look Demyx had. Axel looked at both of them before groaning in annoyance.

"Sex, you Asshats!" He hissed a little too loudly, earning a glare from a pair of parents and a seductive look from a passing elderly woman. Axel could feel his face heat up as his two so-called friends laughed uproariously at him. He had no idea why he hung out with the two of them.

"So," Riku choked out as he regained control over himself. "You think that if you… 'Grind the Organ' with Roxas, everything between you two will be cleared up?

Axel nodded seriously not at all amused by his band mates at the moment.

"Good luck with that. I'll visit you after he puts your ass in a coma." Riku chuckled patting the man on the shoulder as he moved away from the clueless redheaded. He began picking up the balls and action figures Axel had tossed around.

"As if I'd even get that far. The kid's been playing Rapunzel with the way he's locked himself into his dorm."

"In that case, if you wait long enough then maybe he'll let down his hair and after you rescue him, the two of you can take a nice trip to Humptoberfest." Demyx joked, earning a high five from Riku.

Axel stared daggers at the two of them. Demyx hopped up off of the shelf he had perched himself on.

"Why don't you try starting with a simple apology?" Demyx offered. "Xion told me that Roxas was going to be in the practice rooms sometime between 3 and 6 today. Why don't you drop in and talk to him."

Axel perked up a little at this tidbit of information before his eyes darkened a little. "Is this another Xion trap?"

Demyx laughed. "Of course it is. It's Xion-given information."

Axel mulled over this for a while before pulling his phone out of his pocket. It was already 4:30. Axel found himself very much wanting to ditch his friends and run right back over to campus and try to meet up with the blonde but with Axel's track record so far… The last thing he wanted was to be alone with the guy and have no one around to keep them from killing each other.

At the same time, however, ever since he'd first met the guy, he'd been having the most intense case of Lust at First Site he'd ever had. Even while nursing a split lip, there was a mantra that kept playing in his head that wouldn't stop. _Can't deny that I want you, but I'll lie if I have to._

If Axel didn't know any better he'd swear he was going cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

(Although others around him would swear that had happened a long time ago.)

Before Axel was really aware of what he was doing, he had left the toy section, ignored any and all of Demyx's calls of 'wait up', exited the Walmart (power-walked past the old lady from the toy section who was quite intent on getting his number.) and was in his car, hightailing it back to the University. Whether or not there'd be a little 'How's Your Father?' involved, Axel had an inexplicable need to see the blonde.

* * *

Roxas plunked away nonsensically at the piano keys. He let the discordant notes fill the room before trying to remember how to play songs he hadn't attempted in years. Piano was never really Roxas' thing. He could play it, sure, but his first love would always be the guitar. He continued to tap away impatiently at the ivory keys as he waited for Xion and Sora to come back from their food run. The three of them had spent the better part of the afternoon working on some somewhat new material. The blonde had decided that after their little discussion, that he was indeed tired of sitting around like Captain Pissy Pants the Crack-Addicted Zombie. Even if her initial idea of plastering a giant rainbow banner across his door was a bit much, (an idea she ran by him by taking it upon herself to begin taping said banner to his dorm door. He showed his displeasure by pouring Sora's cup of ice down her shirt.) He did in fact want to get back onto the music scene. He would let the public confirmation of what 'team' _he_ played on, come later, if possible.

Tired of butchering 'Chopsticks' and undoubtedly making any and all of the Musical Gods cry in agony, Roxas got up from the piano bench and moved over to the cluster of stools where he and his band had been previously. He picked up his guitar and held it in his lap mulling over its vibrant blues and silvers.

"So, Oathkeeper, up for a little solo performance?" He quietly muttered to his guitar as he nestled it into his lap.

He pulled the music stand next to him, examining Xion's neat musical notes on the staff paper. He didn't need to pull over the lyrics. This song was a long time coming. It was something he'd written years ago. But that didn't make its message any less relevant and with a little tweaking, he felt it was perfect. For too long it had stayed tucked away as his silent anthem. His hands danced over the strings, playing the introduction.

_ "Give me love like her, 'cause lately I've been waking up alone, Paint splattered teardrops on my shirt, Told you I'd let them go, And that I'll fight my corner, maybe tonight I'll call ya, after my blood turns into alcohol. No, I just wanna hold ya."_

Roxas took a breath, his fingers plucking with ease as they danced into the chorus. He vaguely heard the door open and close and heavy footsteps come forward. Only, he was too far gone to truly acknowledge any external stimuli.

_ "Give a little time to me or burn this out. We'll play hide and seek to turn this around. All I want is the taste that your lips allow."_

He flowed through the rest of the chorus before spilling back into verse. He could feel a gaze set intently on him now, an undeniable presence looming over him quietly. He just couldn't be bothered.

The blonde could feel what felt like a heavy bubble rise in his chest and throat as he made his way through the second chorus. It was a bodily reaction he hadn't allowed himself to experience in quite a while. He found himself reaching for more breath than usual to steady his voice.

The bubble seemed to only grow in weight and size. He could feel its seams begin to fray and snap apart with force as he made his way to the bridge of the song, a repetitive pleading chant.

He heard his voice break.

Even over the loud echoing strum of his guitar he could hear the gentle plop of water connecting with the painted wood of his guitar. But even though his singing was now down to nothing more than desperate gasps and whispers. Even though that feeling of overwhelming solidarity that had hung over him for seven years, was now wrapping around his chest, and had taken a vice-like grip around his vocal chords, he kept going. He let the music notes and emotion carry him to the places his voice wouldn't. After he reached the end of the song, he expelled a shaky breath and angrily willed the tears to stop. He hastily, yet gently, sat his guitar down into its case so he could scrub at his cheeks with the sleeves of his jacket. A handful of seconds passed before he remembered he wasn't alone. He stopped mid-scrub as he slowly turned to the person behind him.

Vibrant red spikes pulled into a low pony-tail. Impossibly green emerald eyes. Tattoos. Lanky arm waving lamely.

"Hey." Axel greeted from just beyond the threshold of the practice room with a shamed and sympathetic smile. He was trying to mask the extreme wave of awkwardness he felt as widened blue eyes raked over his frame.

* * *

If you know what obscure underground song Xion quoted to Roxas, we have to be immediate Best Friends For Life.

This chapter was seriously hard to write in some places for some reason. (Probably had something to do with me losing the outline I had for this story…oops.) I promise next chapter will have more Sora. Also I did change the rating to 'M' not because of any impending "Horizontal Monster Mash" just because of language. ;)

Anyhow, let me know what you guys thought about this chapter or the story in general and the next chapter will be up soon! And if the ending was just a tad sad for some of you, I've uploaded a little collection of funny drabbles starring Roxas and Axel (but open to other pairings) called 'Doo-Wops from Various Hooligans', so if you want, check that out and you can even suggest some prompts and junk! Number 3 is currently my favorite. (Shameless self-plugs. love me.)

Anyway, thank you soooo much for reading! :)

**P.S.:** It's my 21st birthday.

**EDIT: **So, on another of my (*cough*more shitty*cough*) stories, someone brought it to my attention that there's a group out there reporting stories that have lyrics/violations in them and having them deleted. Capital Fuckery, right? As a result, the lyric usage will drop a tad and I've already gone through earlier chapters and taken most of them out. I love this story as much as you guys and would very much like to keep it up here. Story quality and effort will suffer/change 0%. If you want/you can, feel free to back track and tell me if the changes are too jarring. Still love you guys more than I love chocolate...Believe me, that means more than you think.


	7. A Little Less Sixteen Candles

Didn't Stand a Chance (At All)

* * *

Greetings, to the most AWESOME readers ever! First off, thank all you so much for all of the birthday wishes! You guys are the sweetest and you make my day 98% brighter. (The other 2% stems from Tekken Tag Tournament and Sleeping Dogs.) Also, thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited and followed! When I say I love your existence, I mean it.

Okay, enough rambling...

* * *

Chapter 7: A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More "Touch Me"

Since there's no performance this chapter, Chapter 7 is named in honor of Fall Out Boy and their officially announced comeback! (Anyone up to fangirl over Pete Wentz with me?) Also, can you spot the Fall Out Boy reference in this chapter?

* * *

Mushrooms.

That was the only rational explanation here. There was no other way for Roxas to possibly discern why there was a wiry redheaded man, which Roxas had long pledged his unyielding hatred for, standing in the doorway of the practice room. He knew that pasta salad from the cafeteria tasted a little weird. And here Xion had tried to convince him it was mold. Nope. It had to be hallucinogenic drugs. There was no way he was really experiencing such a high level of complete mortification. Roxas turned away from his hallucination and blinked hard before turning back.

And all hope that Axel would transform into a pink tap-dancing elephant wearing a sombrero while singing 'Hello My Darling' – dashed.

"Uh, hey. Wasn't trying to uh, to crash your um, practice or anything." Axel stumbled verbally unable to get his tongue and brain to comply with one another. "It was just… that was pretty amaz –."

"What the flying fuck are you doing here?" Roxas cut off the older man's impending compliment. He could feel his face and ears burning. He did his best to swallow the remnants of his song practice and the lingering bits of humiliation and cover them with gruff and annoyed tone.

Axel's brows flew upwards nearly blending in with his hairline at the sudden change in the blonde man's disposition. Although, with their track record he practically saw this coming. "I was passing by, heard you playing and decided to drop in."

_"Good lie. Good lie." _The redhead mentally patted himself on the back.

"Yeah, well you may now feel free to get back onto the other side of the door and continue to pass by." Roxas spat before turning away from the man.

Axel let out an air of something between a laugh and a huff of indignation. "Look, I come in peace, okay?"

"Cool story. Now get out before you leave in pieces."

Well, damn. Someone had gone to their How to Reply like a Witty Jackass lecture today.

Axel took a couple of steps further into the danger zone. He knew the closer he got to the irritated male, the closer he got to getting karate chopped in the trachea, but listening to his intuition had never been his strong suit. What was the point in starting now? Besides, Axel had spent too many nights poking at the little scab on his bottom lip and asking his bottle of Jack Daniels questions, he could get answers to, right now.

In the battle of Curiosity vs. Common Sense… Curiosity won.

"You do realize a lucky shot when someone isn't ready, doesn't make you a qualifier for the Ultimate Bad Ass Olympics, right?"

"Lucky shot my right ass cheek." Roxas grumbled, as he slightly ushered his chin over his shoulder to give the man a healthy glare.

"As lovely as that mental image is," Axel inched a little closer, making the suggestive smile on his face evident while garnering a much deeper scowl. "I'm not here to challenge you to a fight, mini-Muhammad Ali. I'm here to talk."

Roxas turned fully on his stool to get a good look at Axel. "What makes you think that _I _want to talk to _you_?"

Axel folded his arms over his chest. "Do you always work on such high calibers of bitchassness or is this just a seasonal thing?"

"Are you always such a self-assured Jackass or is _that _just a seasonal thing?" Roxas spat back.

"Are you going to keep answering my questions with questions?"

"Depends. Are you ever going to take a hint and take a fucking long walk off of a short pier?"

Axel sighed and quelled the urge to find a pillow and hold it over Roxas' face until he stopped kicking. The banter, cute at first, was slowly starting to grate on Axel's nerves. "What the fuck is your problem?"

"Well now, that one, I can answer easily," Roxas stood up from his stool, wave after wave of pure irritation coursing through him. He moved closer to the man but far enough away he wouldn't feel compelled to reach up and swing him around by his long red tresses. "You. You're a self-absorbed, egotistical, Loudmouth. You're relentlessly annoying and you make me want to give myself a lobotomy with a rusty hatchet."

"Well you're a rude, stuck-up, and abusive, Prick, that makes me wanna dive into a batch of rusty razor blades before taking a dip into a pool of lemon juice and salt but you don't hear me complaining."

"You are right now, Asshead."

"You know, I'm getting a little sick of you and Xion and this 'Asshat, Asshead' bullshit."

"I have the perfect solution to that! Fuck the fuck off." Roxas answered. He refused to let Axel get the better of this (admittedly somewhat pointless) argument. It made no difference how hot the guy was..._not_ to him. Axel just activated his defense mode whenever he was around.

Axel held the repugnant stare Roxas was giving him. Now, he knew why Curiosity killed the cat. It came into contact with Roxas Motherfucking Strife and blew its fucking brains out because of the sheer maddening frustration that made up the entirety of the blonde's disposition. (That metaphor totally made sense. Cats can totally use guns.) Being upfront didn't work. Being kind didn't work. Arguing back, didn't work. Everything he tried was entirely full of fail and quite frankly, he wasn't sure if it was even worth it. All he wanted was to actually talk to the blonde one-on-one. He wanted to clear the air but in order to do that, he needed Roxas to stand down, something that just wasn't happening.

Axel dropped the glare, much to Roxas' surprise before he turned on his heels and made his way to the door. He stopped short of the doorknob and turned back to the still fuming (albeit slightly confused) man behind him.

"You know something? I think Roxas the Person could take a little direction from Roxas the Singer. Roxas the Person could use some pointers on how to be real and not… brimming with bitchassery." Axel began. "Look, I know I can be a bit of an asshole and I know I've said some shitty…shit, but I'm actually trying to be nice and you're giving me thirty different kinds of shade. You want me to 'fuck the fuck off'? Fine."

Roxas felt the furrow in his brow and the stiffness in his jaw lessen despite himself as the redhead finished. He so badly wanted to revel in just how pissed off and frustrated the other man was. He just couldn't. In fact there was an overwhelmingly confusing twang of guilt and panic constricting his intestines as he watched the knob turn and the door begin to open, and if that wasn't just the biggest chunk of Capital Fuckery ever, he didn't know what was. He bit down on his bottom lip as he watched Axel begin to step through the opened door.

"Just a bit?" He blurted before clamping down hard on his bottom lip again. Axel froze in place. Roxas looked on as a pair of green eyes turned toward him. He hadn't really meant to say it, really. It was impulse. A last ditch effort to break a tradition of them ending every meeting on a sour note. A desire he hadn't even really known he'd had until the words shot from his lips.

"Run that by me again?" Axel asked the corners of his lips twisted downwards in a perplexed manner.

"I-I said: 'Just a bit?' As in: Are you sure you have a tendency to only be 'just a bit of an asshole?' Sounds like a grossly inaccurate measurement to me." Roxas offered a half-cooked stiff smile.

Axel let out a wry laugh, quickly catching the man's words and awkward facial expression for what it was: a gesture of goodwill, albeit slightly awkward and unexpected. "Maybe I also have a habit of tossing out understatements."

"You could also take a bit of your own advice. Axel the performer and Axel the Person could also have a bit more cross-over."

"Yeah?" Axel asked before he fully turned around, letting the door close again. "Most people tell me I'm the same insufferable asshole that I am onstage, offstage."

Roxas let out a humored puff of breath. "Well, yeah, you really are. But you're significantly more tolerable when you're singing than you are when you're not."

Axel's small smile grew into a full-blown grin. "Aw, Roxy, that's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me."

Roxas' face dropped. "Call me that again and I'll go back to wanting to rip your entrails out. I'm trying to be nice, don't make me go Bruce Lee on your ass."

Axel took a half-step back, throwing his hands up in defense (something he seemed to do entirely too much around a guy that was so much shorter than him. Really, he could just step on the guy if he put a little effort into it). "Alright, alright. Sorry, just thought it was a cute name for a cute guy."

"Oh, would you look at that? Your big toe is just about over the 'whoop ass' line."

"What? That was a compliment." Axel argued.

"No, cute is not a compliment for a guy. 'Handsome', yes. 'Hot', sure. 'Wow, you look a hell of a lot like Jesse McCartney', Why not? But cute? No." Roxas explained sternly.

Axel couldn't hold in the amused snort at the expense of the serious expression on Roxas' face. "Oh man, you really need to lighten up."

Roxas raised a brow. "How? By being an overtly obnoxious flamboyant goof?"

Axel laughed again. The kid was actually somewhat funny, you know, when he wasn't threatening his various organs and whatnot. That or Axel's brain was working overtime to turn all of these insults into flirtatious gestures. "No, silly goose muffin. I have that role covered." The redhead stopped and pondered for a second. "What are you doing tonight?"

Roxas scratched his head and gave the other musician a look that dangled between skepticism and fear. "Nothing. Why are you asking? Especially with such a suspicious look."

Axel grinned. "On a scale of one to five, five being the highest, how interested would you be in going on a little adventure with me? Before you ask, no, this isn't a sexual advance."

"The fact that you even had to make that clarification, makes this entire proposition, that much sketchier." Roxas frowned.

Axel rolled his eyes. "Just answer the question Captain Pissy Pants."

"-1.6. The negative is there to emphasize how much I'd like to go across your head with one of Xion's drums for using that damn nickname." The blonde grouched.

Axel tried his best to hide his smile with an eye roll. "Look, if that number somehow miraculously rises throughout the rest of today, meet me outside of the Liberal Arts building around eight tonight."

"Do I really look dumb enough to go along with this possible rape plot?" Roxas asked in an amused tone.

"Hey, it's not rape if you yell surprise." Axel winked, garnering a look of mild alarm from the blonde in front of him. "It was a joke. You know those things that people with a sense of humor, laugh at?"

Roxas kept up his look of suspicion as the redhead moved a little closer to him. He felt completely compelled to back away from the advance, but as a pair of malachite resembling irises locked onto his, it felt nearly impossible. He watched wide-eyed as Axel's moved in a little closer. So wrapped up in what was going on visually, he felt a small shock as a warm hand, the tips slightly calloused in a way that could only be from constant guitar use, took his own and placed something in his palm.

"You decide to show up, use this." Axel advised quietly. Roxas gave a curt nod, still trying to soak in the abrupt change in atmosphere.

Axel flashed a grin before backing up and making his way out of the practice room after giving a small wink. Roxas stood blinking long after the door had closed behind the man. It took him about five minutes to even register the fact that there was something in his hand. He looked down to find a small white ripped slip of paper. On it, in smudged black ink and messy writing, was a note.

_400-5438 Get it memorized._

Roxas stared at the paper for a second before something clicked. "Just passing by, huh? Lying Jackass." He muttered to himself as he felt the inklings of a smile prickle the left side of his lips.

* * *

There was always cause for suspicion whenever Xion offered to pay for something. There was even more cause for suspicion when Xion offered to not only pay, but to walk clear across campus to take Sora to his favorite food establishment on campus: Wonderland. It was a small colorful place that specialized in different desserts. More specifically, ice cream. Sora's kryptonite. And now, with their fifteen minute break slowly easing into thirty minutes as they leisurely strode back to the practice rooms… Sora just had to ask.

"This is a set-up, isn't it?" He shoveled a giant spoonful of ice-cream into his mouth.

Xion looked up from the raspberry cheesecake cookie she was currently fixated on. "Yes, yes it is." She answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

"For me or for Roxas?"

"Roxas."

"Why?" Sora sighed, none too happy about the fact that when they did finally arrive back, Roxas would no doubt be in a homicidal mood. He would make sure Xion walked in first, that way when the drums went flying, she'd, rightfully, take the first hit.

"Because, everything that irritates us about others, can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves." Xion answered simply, pouting a little as she dropped a plethora of crumbs down her top.

"Can I get the 'Xion for Dummies' version please?" Sora asked through a mouthful of chocolate ice cream.

"Carl Jung."

"Not him again." Sora muttered to himself, earning himself an ear flick from the dark-haired woman beside him. He winced and gave a sulky frown.

"Hey, don't diss Jung. He knows what he's talking about."

"Don't doubt that. Just doubt _you _know what he's talking about. I'm sure the guy never said: "Let's try to force two guys, who clearly hate each other, to jump each other's bones…or fight to the death. Whichever comes first" I think your interpretation sucks." He replied as he nursed his ear.

Xion stopped and gave the man a warning look. "This could easily turn into a set up for you, you know. All I have to do is tickle you and I could easily get what little secret you've been hiding, out of you."

Sora pointedly took three steps to the left, away from Xion. "Evil."

"You started it." The woman shrugged turning her attention back to her cookie.

Before the conversation could go any further the pair's attention was drawn to a wild bundle of blonde hair. Demyx was wildly flailing his arms in attempt to catch their attention as he powerwalked towards them. Sora and Xion exchanged looks as they upped their pace to try and meet the man half-way.

"Geez Dem, what's going on? You look like you just broke out of a mental institution." Xion asked as soon as she got close enough to fully take in his appearance.

Demyx gave the woman a semblance of a deadly glower as he caught his breath. "If I do, it's your and Axel's fault."

Xion and Sora both perked up in alarm, ready to run back to the Arts building.

"Oh, no. They didn't start fighting again, did they?" Sora asked.

Demyx shrugged. "Hell if I know. I told Axel what you wanted me to and the bozo ditched me at fucking Walmart."

The two band mates relaxed before letting out barely contained snickers. Demyx rolled his eyes at them in return. After a second, Xion regained her composure, (the same could not be said for Sora who had just about shoved his entire ice cream container into his mouth to stop the laughter.) and looked around, slightly confused.

"Hold the phone. If Axel ditched you, how did you get here? The nearest Walmart is like, five miles away and knowing just how much you love any kind of strenuous activity, there's no way you walked back here."

"I waited for Riku to get off and he drove me back. It was lucky that we got there when his shift was about to end, otherwise I would have pitched a bigger bitch-fit. Good grief, you Strife brothers are good at causing problems. It's bad enough they discontinued the Twinkies and that you two have Axel and Riku acting like Austin Powers after he lost his 'mojo', now you're messing with my transportation too? I think I need a burger, beer and some punk rock." Demyx rambled.

"Wait, wait, and wait. What do you mean "you Strife brothers have Axel and Riku acting like Austin Powers after he lost his 'mojo'? What does Sora have to do with Riku losing anything?" Xion asked eyeing at the other two men in front of her.

Sora just about dropped his ice cream as he gave Demyx a look that clearly screamed: 'you are so dead, you big-mouthed dummy'. Demyx clamped his mouth shut and just shook his head. Xion stared them down. Sora was desperately combing his brain to think of some kind of excuse but the only thoughts he could conjure up were various ways he could kick Demyx's butt all over Radiant Gardens University. Xion, now officially knew there was something going on and there was only one way to escape the barrage of questions Sora and Demyx just knew were coming.

"Sora, you thinking what I'm thinking?" Demyx asked, eyes still locked on the advancing woman.

"I do believe I am." Sora answered.

"Good. Then it shouldn't be a surprise when I say: Cheese it!"

Sora dropped his ice cream and the two of them turned tail and ran as hard they could in the direction opposite of Xion. They had no way of telling if she was following them or not. (They were not too scared to look back, they just didn't _want _to.) They kept going until they were at the Arts building. Finally feeling as if they had put enough distance between them and Xion, they stopped and leaned against the building's brick exterior and fought to catch their breath.

"Think we lost her?" Demyx panted.

"Think so. Oh, by the way…" Sora turned and gave the drummer a firm punch in the bicep.

"Ow! What the bitch?" Demyx hissed as he tended to the tender area. "What was that for?"

"What you said, duh! We wouldn't have had to take off like we were extras in a Godzilla movie if you'd watch it!"

Demyx plopped down to the ground and crossed his legs. "I don't get what the big deal is. Riku told us. Why haven't you told Xion or Roxas?"

Sora flopped down into the grass a couple of inches away. He scrubbed his somewhat sticky hands onto the thighs of his jeans. "Because it's a bigger deal than you think. Besides, before I tell them, I think I need to talk to _him_."

"Well it's kind of hard for someone to have a conversation with someone else while they're flipping over handrails like they're one of Charlie's Angels, don't you think?" A different but incredibly familiar voice asked from behind Sora, causing the hairs on the back of the brunette's neck to stand on end.

Sora turned slowly to be met with the basis of this conversation. Riku was leaning a shoulder against the building, he was still in his work uniform of a navy shirt and khaki pants. Sora felt his mouth immediately go dry.

"You know, trying to talk to you is sort of like trying to Send a Postcard From A Plane Crash."

Sora forced a small laugh and nonchalant shrug. "Well you know me, I'm always Reinventing the Wheel to Run Myself Over." He answered.

Riku gave the brunette a small smile before turning to Demyx who was looking at the two of them like they'd just grown three extra heads. "Hey, Dem. Mind giving us a minute or thirty?"

Demyx wordlessly gave a nod and pulled himself up of off the ground, dusting off the back of his jeans. "Sure, why not? But you guys might not want to stick around here for too long. Xion's bound to show up soon." He turned with a small wave and began to walk away, leaving the two alone.

"We're avoiding Xion?" Riku asked as he pushed himself off of the wall and holding out a hand to help the shorter man up off of the ground.

"It's a long story. Well, not really. It's a 'Demyx has a big mouth and nearly blabbed to Xion so we ran like we stole something' kind of story." Sora answered as he accepted the assistance.

Riku shook his head and laughed. "Of course, it makes so much sense."

"I know a place we can go." Sora offered. He gestured for Riku to follow him and they began walking in silence. It wasn't as awkward as either of them pictured it being, but by no means was it a relaxed atmosphere. There were a plethora of unsaid apologies and explanations to be given and in all the time the two had been thinking about this moment, neither of them had actually thought about what they wanted to say. Riku was now wishing he'd made that pit stop for a little liquid courage and Sora was really hating himself for dropping his own bit of nerve, in the form of ice cream, earlier.

"Here it is." Sora announced, breaking both their bubbles of thought. They then proceeded to climb the slight peak of land. Sora sat first in his usual little area. Riku took a seat next to him, making sure to keep at least a foot of distance between them. The last thing he wanted to do was scare the brunette off again. Silence crept back in around them as they watched people wandering around campus. It gave a perfect view of the courtyard and was seated right where one could easily see the sun begin to move behind the tallest dorms on campus.

"This is a nice view." Riku spoke first.

Sora nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I know. It's kind of a mind-clearing area. It's where I come to think and stuff."

Riku snuck a glance over at the man beside him. "Yeah? What kind of things do you think about up here?" He asked.

"Everything. School, family, embarrassing moments at festivals, you know, garden variety stuff."

Sora shrugged. He was trying incredibly hard not have a conniption. He really didn't want Riku to think he was some kind of professional spaz-machine. (Despite the fact that he was. Riku just didn't need to know all of that, yet.)

"About the festival," Riku started, pointedly keeping his eyes on the roving student body below them. "I didn't mean to – I should have asked you and clarified before I –"

"Even if you had, the outcome probably wouldn't have changed." Sora cut in.

Riku turned to look at Sora, who was taking his turn to avoid eye contact. "What do you mean?"

"I was – am confused about some things. I have been for a while. I really wanted to meet you halfway. So much so, that it scared the flying fig newtons out of me. Having a girlfriend for years that you're totally attracted to, then having those same feelings just as strongly about a _guy_? I'm Not Okay, trust me." Sora exhaled before looking over with a friendly expression.

"The Jetset Life is Going to Kill You," Riku answered as he leaned over and nudged the brunette with an elbow. Sora answered with a small chuckle. "My Chemical Romance? Seems very unlike you."

"Have you met my brother? He lives Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. I dare you to ask him to sing _Helena_ in a public area, he'll turn it into a freakin' Broadway moment." Sora explained. Riku laughed, unable to argue. Sora let out a sigh and leaned back onto his elbows and watched as the sun began to dip down between the buildings, the sky casting an orange-pinkish hue. "I can't apologize for freaking out, 'cause, you know, that's just me. But I'm sorry about avoiding you."

"It's fine. Although, I still had no idea anyone could squeeze through those tiny bathroom windows like that."

"Benefit of being scrawny. I was also thoroughly scolded about that. According to Kairi, public bathroom windows are the leading cause of Herpes and Dyslexia… or something… I missed 90% of that rant about a minute in."

"Kairi?"

"She's my other best friend and ex. She's really cool and the reason we're talking and not playing Hide and Seek anymore."

Riku nodded in understanding. "I'll have to make a note of thanking her for that. I never was good at that game and stood no chance against someone as formidable as you." There was another beat of silence as the two watched the sun slowly make its descent. "But if you hadn't noticed, I'm not like Roxas and Axel and I'm not really the kind to hide what I'm thinking or feeling with emo music or general "sluttiness"."

Sora nodded. "I've noticed."

"So, I'm wondering what does all of your deep soul searching and conversations with Xion's opposite, lead to? Because I really like you, Sora Strife."

As the brunette felt his entire face go ablaze like a match and his whole being go went as stiff as a corpse, he'd only just managed to not fall onto his back and sit back up. He was not expecting Riku to just say it like that. He wasn't sure if he should say it back, because honestly who was he kidding? (Well, besides Xion and Roxas and everyone back at home and… Okay, List, getting longer than intended.) He looked over at Riku, who was still sitting up and Sora could tell he was doing his best to not look too eager for the answer Sora, was hesitant to give. What if it turned out this was just college experimentation or that he'd wake up in the morning feeling a comple –

"I like you too." The words flew from his lips unexpectedly.

Sora thought how awkward it would be for him to tell himself to pipe the fuck down.

Sora tentatively looked over at Riku who was giving him a look that created a plethora of goose bumps and standing hairs and other stereotypical and clichéd bodily reactions.

"Really?"

Sora nodded again. "But..."

"Oh, yay, everyone likes it when a 'but' follows an 'I like you too'." Riku mumbled sarcastically, his face falling slightly.

"But," Sora started again, trying to fight the urge to make a potty joke. "Let's try friendship first. I'm still figuring out some stuff and I don't want to just jump into this."

"But It's Better If You Do." Riku answered using Panic At The Disco, to lighten the mood.

Sora rolled his eyes and reached over to push the muscular man over into the grass. "There's A Reason These Tables Are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven't Thought Of It Yet."

The two of them continued to laugh well until the sun had finally been completely replaced by the moon. Sora was glad Riku wasn't pissed at him for the way he'd been treating him and even gladder that the silver-haired man was being so understanding. Even so, Sora figured he'd better enjoy this moment as much as he could, because when he finally did make his way back to the dorm he was almost sure he'd find Xion. He had some serious explaining to do and he was not looking forward to it.

* * *

"What the hell happened to you? Did you get body checked by the Abominable Ice Cream Man?" Roxas wheezed as he cracked up at his best friend's appearance. Xion stepped through the threshold of the practice room, her hair dampened and slightly matted. Sprinkles were dashed throughout her hair and chocolate stained the front of her light colored shirt.

"Shut it. Your idiot brother ran off with Demyx and threw his ice cream over his shoulder without stopping to think that maybe, just maybe, I'd be standing there." She huffed. She grabbed her water bottle and proceeded to pour some of its contents onto Sora's abandoned jacket and used it to scrub the chocolate residue off of her face and forehead. Roxas began to laugh even harder as she removed the jacket from her face. Her fringe, was sticking straight up in the air.

"You look like Cameron Diaz from that one scene in Something About Mary!" He choked. "Are you sure it was ice cream and not –"

"You finish that sentence and I will knock you into the year 3015."

Roxas continued to gasp for breath and clutch at his sides while Xion gave him a very unimpressed glower. She took the jacket to her hair and flattened her fringe out. She threw the now empty water bottle at Roxas' head effectively hitting him square in the forehead.

"Oh, ow." Roxas replied sarcastically. "Is that the best that the Great Xion, can do?"

"I'm entirely too sticky right now to do anything else." She countered.

"If I were to make a "That's What She Said" joke right now…?"

"You would die. Plain and simple. And no one would ever find the body because I watch entirely too much Law and Order and CSI: Miami to ever get caught."

"Duly noted." Roxas answered doing his best to contain the latter half of his laughing fit.

Xion sighed and plopped down on one of the stools and continued to scrub the dampened jacket over her hair and face. She continued to ramble and rant under her breath until a ripped piece of paper sitting on one of the music stands caught her attention.

"Hey, what's this?' She asked, picking it up and examining it. "Is this – Is this Axel's phone number?" She questioned again, a large smile on her face.

"Yeah." Roxas shrugged before clearing his throat. "He asked me to hang out with him or something tonight. Not going to though."

Xion did a double-take. "Hold up. You two had a conversation without killing each other _and _exchanged phone numbers? Next, are you going to tell me that pigs can not only fly but also solve mathematical equations while doing the moonwalk?"

"Okay first off, there was no number exchange. He gave me his out of the blue. And second, I'm not going so you can take all of those idioms and put them away. I'm not meeting up with anyone who says 'it's not rape if you yell surprise' as a joke."

"Prude." Xion scoffed.

"I have to protect my chastity." Roxas countered.

Xion let out a loud, high-pitched laugh. "Hey, there ain't nothing wrong with a little bump and grind."

"Oh, dear God, please don't start quoting R. Kelly at me." Roxas groaned as started to pack up his guitar.

Xion held in the rest of her jokes. "I'm just saying you're not fooling anyone. The two of you have more sexual tension flowing between you than a freaking Freudian theory." Roxas gave her a questioning look. "I'm just saying that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to give him one last chance."

The blonde stopped and mulled over her words for a moment. Despite what he told her, he still wasn't sure if he _didn't _want to go meet the guy. He still had a bit of time to decide. As much as he was reluctant to admit it, he sort of, kind of, in some weird foreign way, wanted to see Axel again. (Yeah, he died a little inside after coming clean about that.)

"And take into account the fact that if you don't go, I will sing overtly sexual 90s R&B songs until you do."

"You're bluffing."

Xion cleared her throat. "My mind is telling me no," She took in a deep breath. "But my body, my body's telling me yes." She sang at the top of her lungs.

"Okay!" Roxas exclaimed, jumping from his seat. "I'll go! Just stop the madness!"

"Good call. Because I was about to butcher the hell out of Nice and Slow by Usher."

Roxas groaned inwardly as he finished packing his stuff away. "I'm going to take my stuff back to the dorm. I'd help you with the other crap, but then I'd be late. Hopefully Sora will show up. See ya later, Sticky Buns!" Roxas called quickly as he dashed out of the room with his guitar and backpack, leaving a wide-eyed Xion behind.

She looked around at the various instruments and general mess she'd been left with. She slapped her palm against her still tacky forehead. She had not thought this part through.

* * *

Roxas stood just a couple of feet from the Liberal Arts building and quite frankly he was starting to rethink this entire situation. Honestly, what if Axel was trying to frame him from murder or set him up to take the fall for some big heist? He would just be walking right into it like some sort of Derp-Bot. Didn't tattoos under the eyes mean a person had killed before or been to jail or something? He looked down at his phone, his fingers lingering over the call button as he debated.

"Thinking of standing me up?"

"JESUS!" Roxas screamed while he nearly jumped out of his skin. He juggled his phone around in an attempt to keep it from hitting the ground. He clutched at his chest, checking to see if his heart was still beating. He then spun around ready to beat, whoever was behind him, until the white meat showed, only to be greeted with (of course) Axel's trademark smug smirk. "Who the fuck does that?" The blonde griped. He was trying incredibly hard to catch his breath.

"Hey, it's not my fault if you aren't paying attention to your surroundings."

"You should know that I am not above ripping your arm out of its socket and beating you with it." Roxas snarled.

"Ooooh, so feisty. C'mon Incredible Hulk," Axel grabbed Roxas' hand and began to pull him towards the building "We have things to do."

Roxas, still somewhat subdued from his near death experience, allowed himself to be yanked along with little resistance. The campus was still buzzing with student life. But most were off near the gym or the food areas. The academic buildings and their surrounding spaces, on the other hand, were pretty dead. Axel led them through the glass doors of the Liberal Arts building, the bright, buzzing, fluorescent lights were a stark contrast to the dark, mostly moonlit atmosphere they'd just left. There was the occasional professor here and there, some greeted them in kind, others giving them suspicious looks. They hadn't walked very far before they stopped in front of an elevator.

"Where are we even going?" Roxas asked as they waited for the car to come down.

"My hideout." The redhead answered simply, keeping his eye on the small LED screen that told them what floor the elevator was on.

"This isn't going to turn out to be a meth lab or something, is it?"

Axel turned to him with a grin. "Hey, drug free is the way to be."

"You kiss your mother with that corny ass mouth?" Roxas quipped.

Axel just continued smiling and turned back to the screen. Roxas took the chance to look the man over. He was wearing those same skinny jeans he'd been wearing when they'd first met and a red and black hoodie. His hair was pulled into loose ponytail at the base of his head, but it didn't do much to pacify the sides of his hair, which was still jutting out in different directions. On anyone else, the red hair would probably look ridiculous but somehow, Axel pulled it off exceptionally well. Roxas continued his inconspicuous examination before he finally looked down at the hand that hadn't been dragging him along like a rag doll.

"What's with the cooler?" Roxas asked.

"It's a surprise." Axel winked, looking at him from the corner of his eye.

"A surprise." He deadpanned.

"Yes."

Roxas sighed. "I'm really hoping my poor little heart can take it."

Axel chuckled as the elevator finally opened up for them to climb aboard. They rode up to the top floor, all the while, Roxas was still trying to figure out where on earth they could be going. They got off and Axel took his hand again, leading him to a flight of stairs that had a long metal chain blocking the way.

"Uh, doesn't that sign say: Students May Not Enter?" Roxas probed.

"Damn you're full of questions. Like I said earlier, loosen up," Axel replied. He lifted up the chain and gestured for Roxas to go under. "Rules were made to be broken."

"Said every inmate ever." Roxas complained before going ahead and ducking up under the chain. "If we go to jail, I'm putting a sign on your back that says: "Feel free to make me your bitch."

The redhead bit his bottom lip to hold in the loud laugh that was threatening to give them away. "Good one, Blondie." He snorted.

They climbed the last two flights of stairs before they were met with a door that was slightly propped open with a cinderblock. Roxas looked at Axel with a raised brow.

"Benefits of befriending the janitor. I supply him with the smokes his wife doesn't want him to have, and I get unlimited access to _this._" Axel opened the door with a flourish and Roxas' jaw nearly hit the floor.

They were on the roof of the Liberal Arts building. The tallest building on campus. The entirety of the college could be seen and everyone looked like little ants. But it wasn't the college view that took Roxas for a loop, it was the landscape and even better than that was the sky. Usually it was hard to get a good look at the sky from the ground or dorms because the trees and lights cancelled everything out. The moon looked so big and white from here, Roxas felt like if he reached far enough, he could touch it. The stars were equally amazing. He could easily see Orion's belt and the Little Dipper, just as clearly as when he was back on the Islands. For the first time that night, Roxas was speechless.

"Xion told me you had this thing for Astronomy. I figured you might like it up here."

Roxas looked back over at Axel, then back at the sky. "You – How – Oh my damn."

Axel moved past him and walked closer to the edge of the building. The edges of the building were blocked off so he couldn't hang his legs over like he wanted, so he got as close as possible before taking a seat and opening the cooler. "Want one?" He inquired pulling his hand out from the container of ice. He was holding a light blue Popsicle.

Roxas moved closer, his eyes widening. "That's not –"

"Sea Salt? Yeah, it is." The redhead beamed. He could tell by the expression on the blonde's face, he was doing well. He mentally thanked Xion for the head's up on that one.

"It's not poisoned is it?"

Axel rolled his eyes and thrust the frozen dessert into the blonde singer's hands. "No, Douche, it's not." Roxas took it apprehensively. "It's a peace offering," The green-eyed man continued. "My way of saying 'I'm sorry I'm a giant asshole, but don't expect me to really change much because it's embedded in my DNA.' Well I guess it's more of an apology and warning all-in-one."

Roxas eyed the popsicle, sniffed it and examined it again, before finally placing it in his mouth. "Wow, and it's not even the shitty kind."

"Hey, wars were never resolved by handing out shitty ice cream." Axel said defensively before grabbing his own frozen treat.

"And what war, pray tell, do you know of, that was resolved with ice cream?" Roxas asked.

Axel thought for a minute. "The Great Snowman/Penguin War of 1852. The Yeti and Santa Debacle in the 1920s and I'm pretty sure it played a huge role in the American Revolutionary War. Paul Revere would not have made it through that Midnight Ride without a banana split."

Roxas barely avoided a spit-take as he laughed. "Wow. That was actually funny. I didn't know you did funny."

"It's amazing what you can find out when you're not threating to kick someone into the ninth dimension of hell."

"Well, it's amazing what I can sit through when someone's not being the pants-on-head hat-on-ass, stupid." Roxas countered.

"Touché."

They sat for a while and continued to joke around and examine the skies. The time flew as they picked on fellow students and discussed music. They debated guitar brands (Fender versus Ibanez) and whether or not it would be possible for Fall Out Boy's comeback album to rival _From Under the Cork Tree_ and if they'd even be relevant in an industry so heavily dominated by Electronic music.

Time flew and neither of them could hardly believe that they'd been able to sit for this long without coming to blows. (Granted Axel nearly bit off his tongue trying to hold in the dirty jokes and Roxas nearly chewed his bottom lip off trying not to call Axel a 'big fat dummy' on multiple occasions.) After a while, the two of them were lying on their backs, taking the crisp Fall wind in stride as they stared at the sky. They were quiet letting the disbelief and contentedness settle in around them.

It was so weird to Roxas how someone who seemed to be so worthy of hating was actually kind of, sort of, in some out there type of way, cool.

"So, that song from earlier, you wrote that?" Axel broke the record tensionless silence.

Roxas cringed at the question. He knew hoping that that moment could be left alone was something of a long shot. "Yeah, a while ago."

"It was really good. Especially the way you sang it." Axel complimented.

"Yeah, well, uh, thanks."

"I mean it. Shit's hard out here for people like us."

"People like us?" The blonde echoed, titling his head a little so he could catch a glimpse of the redhead.

"Yeah, I mean, even here in Radiant Gardens where the populations like a gazillion, people are still judgmental as fuck. I can't imagine living on a little island like yours."

"I'd tell you it's not as bad as you're thinking, but I'd probably be lying. The kids weren't really that bad by themselves. It was when they all got together that they'd feel entitled to say and do shit. Or the parents would condemn you behind your back. Or better yet, condemn the way your parents raised you." Roxas stopped himself. Last thing he wanted to do was completely spill his guts. Axel wasn't totally out of the enemy realm yet.

"On the bright side, at least coming out was your decision." Axel started. "Apparently not everyone gets that choice."

Roxas sat up a little, intrigued. He knew next to nothing about Axel. Not nearly as much as he was sure Xion had told Axel about himself. "What do you mean?"

Axel sighed a little. "Roxy, I'm going to tell you something I've only ever told a handful of people." He sat up and crossed his legs. Roxas followed suit. "See, back in my sophomore year, I was seeing this kid. We both wanted to keep our sexuality on the down low, so to speak. So, for a while our relationship consisted of what could be done between classes under stairwells and what we could sneak in when our parents weren't around. Most people just thought 'Oh, hey, Axel finally got a friend other than Demyx and Riku!' Then there were some people who saw it for what it was." Axel took in a breath before he went on. "Some kids from the newspaper caught us in the locker room. Took pictures, posted them online. It was pretty bad. They got in more trouble than we did since basically they were posting child porn, but I digress," He chuckled. "The guy bailed on me. Said _I_ was the one making a move on him. People believed him since the pictures sorta backed his story. I could have outed him but I figured it'd be pointless."

Roxas mouth was agape. "You didn't do _anything_ to him?"

"Nah. See, Life's a bitch only when you are. You have to know how to treat her if you want good things to happen, you know. Besides people didn't mess with me _that_ much. I mean look at me, if you're not lusting over this, you're probably afraid of it."

"Careful, your jackass is showing." Roxas replied with a half-smile. "Also the way you kill a moment is right up there with Sora."

"Yeah, I know, right?" Axel grinned back before sitting up to grab a half-melted popsicle from the cooler. "You know when I think about it, maybe that's what I didn't like about you before."

Roxas got up and grabbed his own ice cream. "Explain."

"I guess when Xion told me about you, I was sort of pissed. I mean, you had a choice but then when everyone turned on you, you stopped singing, stopped being social. You let them win. And even after you left, you were still letting them win."

Roxas felt a little incensed, he moved his ice cream. "Hey, you don't –"

Axel put a hand on his shoulder. "Down, Blondie Pacquiao. I said _thought_. As in past tense. My mind sort of changed after hearing you sing today. We're more alike than I thought. That and Xion told me about the other conversation you guys had."

Roxas groaned. "Is nothing sacred anymore?"

"Of course not. It's the 21st century." Axel scoffed lightheartedly. "And I'm a little glad it isn't. Then I wouldn't have known the whole story. I'm sure you would probably cover yourself with Raw Steaks and prance through the Lion Den at the zoo, than tell me any damn thing."

"Good point." Roxas agreed. "And then I would never have known that you could actually not be an assface."

"New one. Gross mental image." The two laughed for a second. "There is one thing that Xion hasn't been able to tell me though."

"And that would be?"

Axel shifted a little so he was looking directly at Roxas. "Many years ago, back when we still wanted to gut each other, we sang a little song called _Take Care_, in which you, took the second verse and you sang a line that's been bothering the hell out of me for weeks, now. 'Can't deny that I want you, but I'll lie if I have to.'"

Roxas felt his entire face heat up so much he thought he would burst into flames on the spot. Of course he'd pick up on that little line. He _was _smarter than your average bear. (Even more so than Roxas had thought at the time of said performance.) "W-well – I –"

"I'll make this simple, since apparently in your case, blushing is equal to lowered vocabulary." Roxas felt some of his embarrassment die down and his 'urge to kill levels', rise. "Did you mean it, the way I think you did?"

Roxas clamped down on his lip again. He wasn't sure how to respond. His mind was saying one thing, his body another and – dammit, R. Kelly was getting into his head again! He looked up at the green-eyed man who was looking at him expectantly. He wanted to give into the prideful thing that chewing away at his inside and deny it, but according to Xion and about 5,000 YouTube strangers, he wasn't fooling anyone.

So instead, he nodded meekly.

Before Roxas could open his mouth to explain or even decide to make some kind of joke out of the entire situation, there was another pair of lips on his own. They were sticky and warm and tasted like Sea Salt ice cream. There was a hand in his hair and two popsicles on the ground. And there was an aroma around him that reminded him of the smoke from a freshly blown out candle. The mixture of smells and senses influenced his eyes to close and accept what was happening.

Axel was kissing him. And he was kissing him back.

* * *

**Hey, Look! An Author's Note with Important Content!**

Wooo! Chapter 7! Do you realize this thing is 28 pages double-spaced? If this long ass chapter made your eyes bleed, I'm sorry and I owe you a hug and a homemade brownie. Also if the chapters _are _getting too long, let me know and I'll try to cut them down/in half.

** I'm still not 100% on the pacing in this chapter. I didn't want things to move too fast and out of their established character. So, if you could, please let me know how it felt you. **

**End of Important Content. :)**

As always, thank you for reading and don't forget to stay awesome and feel free tell me what you think in that beautiful little box below!


	8. Outlines

Didn't Stand a Chance (At All)

* * *

She's back _and _she's changed her name! Why is she referring to herself in third person? I'll stop now!

I know it's been forever and I'm so, so sorry. But so much has happened since my last update. I got my Associate in Arts (first girl in my family to get a degree!) and transferred from a State College to a University (the cheap way to get educated!), which meant I had to pack up my life and move about an hour away from home. My car got totaled. -cue gross sobbing- And I became a volunteer Victim's Advocate for Rape/Assault Victims (which means I have 40 hours of counseling training coming in June...Yay?) So...yeah. I've been a busy bird.

Anyway, have 21 pages of my love and apologies.

* * *

Chapter 8: Outlines

Song Mentioned: Outlines by All Time Low

Let's try to spot the All Time Low references this time, shall we?

* * *

Axel was typically the kind of guy who didn't dwell on pedantic things like regret. It could easily be said that one of his greatest fears was waking up one day and realizing that he was living in a cloud of his own deferred dreams.

However, as the young, self-proclaimed daredevil ran through a thick collection of foliage before scrambling up the nearest tree he could find, he had to wonder if he sometimes lived a bit _too_ dangerously.

"Axel Flynn! When I find you, I am going to slay you like a Skyrim Dragon!"

Axel cursed mentally. He curled himself into an uncomfortable ball, limbs tightly coiled around a thick branch. All the while, he silently prayed that the panic-induced adrenaline that was coursing through his veins would trigger some previously unknown chameleon-like ability to blend into his surroundings.

"I see you, you Rat Bastard."

But of course, prayers from a deviant, like himself, never got far.

The tree-bound redhead looked down, the tension that had gathered in his neck, easing slightly. "Hey, Roxy, Old Pal." He greeted weakly.

Roxas crossed his arm and shot back a glare, his jaw set and tense. It was apparent Roxas would be having none of his shit right now.

"Give me at least 3 valid reasons as to why I shouldn't I shouldn't tie your balls to a Wild Horse and let it drag you around until the fuckers fall off?"

Axel cringed. He instinctively wound his legs tighter around the tree.

"Because I'm nothing more than a precocious little scamp?"

Roxas pursed his lips and gave a single stern nod before he turned around and grabbed a pine-cone that lay near his feet. He rolled it around in his hand before he chucked it up into the tree, pegging Axel right in the shoulder.

"Ow! What the hell?"

Roxas gave the man a venomous smile as he turned and plucked another pine-cone from the ground and threw it, this time narrowly missing the other man's neck.

"Okay, I'm sorry! I'm really really sorry! I am so beyond the realm of sorry, you wouldn't even believe it." Another pine-cone whizzed by. "Did I mention how hot you looked on stage tonight, because _damn_." A fourth pine-cone caught his forearm. "D-did I mention that you are the most awesome, compassionate, most adorable-"

Before Axel could continue his ass kissing session a final pine-cone whizzed through the air and hit him in the center of the forehead causing him to yelp and lose his grip and fall about four feet from his perch to the cold, hard ground beneath him.

"Ow." He groaned.

Roxas walked over and stood over him, obviously trying to hold back his laughter.

Before Roxas had the chance to conjure up a snippy remark, the blonde was accosted by two incredibly bright lights.

"Oh, good, he isn't dead yet. I would have been so pissed if I'd missed the blood bath." Xion called to them as they got closer.

"And have witnesses? No way. Besides if I really wanted to kill him, I would have used something a lot stronger than a pine-cone to knock him out of that tree. Maybe a brick or a bowling ball." Roxas answered as his brother and best friend walked up, using their cellphones as flashlights.

"You sure he's not dead? He's not moving. I mean, wouldn't it be hard to tell whether or not he's bleeding with that hair color of his?" Sora pointed out.

Roxas turned back to Axel and tapped him in the temple with his foot.

"Ugh, your shoes smell like cheap plastic dildos."

"For the love of all that deep fried and battered, please don't tell me how you know what that smells like." Roxas sighed before turning back to his band mates with a slight frown.

Xion let out a small sigh before walking closer to the other two. She kneeled down and jabbed Axel in the small reddened area that marked where the pine-cone had hit. "You seriously won't be satisfied until you get yourself killed, will you?"

"It was a joke!" Axel coughed, still trying to collect his bearings. Trees were another thing to add to his "Bad Places to Hide from Roxas" list.

"There's a fine line between joking and having a death wish." Another voice chimed in. The four looked over to see Riku walking up to them. "Kissing Roxas on stage in front of a fuckton of fangirls with cameras? If that's not suicidal behavior, I don't know what is."

"You can all eat a giant arsenic pie with a dollop of whipped cat piss." Axel groaned as he propped himself up onto his elbows. The fall may have been relatively small but it had still knocked a considerable amount of wind out of him.

"Anyway, while the Supreme Leader of the Jackass Squad here wallows in his stupidity, Marluxia wants you guys to come get your stuff. He's ready to close. Dem and I already started on your drums, Xion."

"Okay. Rox, you make sure the only thing damaged on Lieutenant Ass-Douche over there, is his ego and we'll finish packing up the instruments." Xion offered.

Roxas gave a slight nod as the other three left. Axel gave an indignant scowl at the amount of name-calling that was being tossed his way. And they called him the immature one. Axel was pulled from his mental rant as a pale hand appeared in front of his face. He looked up to find Roxas giving him a look that ranged somewhere between kind and triumphant. Axel gave him a slight scowl and a small list of mumbled obscenities before accepting the help.

"You're not actually hurt, are you?" Roxas asked. He gave the man a once over, reaching up to pull a couple of stray twigs out of the red spikes.

Axel shook his head before stretching out a little. "Might be a little sore in the morning but - wait, you actually care?" The redhead leaned in. His voice had taken on an exaggerated tone of surprise.

Roxas put an open palm on the man's face and pushed him back. "No, not at all. I was just asking because I was taking a survey. If you knock a common dumbass out of a tree like a pinata, will he have enough sense to feel it?."

Axel let out a small laugh before he began to dust all of the dirt and leaves from his clothes.

"You know, I used to be a wise-cracking smartass like you, then I took a pine-cone to the face."

Roxas paused. "Wait. Was that a Skyrim joke?"

"Hey, you're the one who threatened to 'slay me like Skyrim Dragon'."

Roxas folded his arms over his chest as he tried his best to bite back his smile. "Whatever."

Axel pointedly nudged Roxas as they began their walk out of the small gathering of trees they'd run into. Roxas scoffed and pushed the taller male back. The two continued their walk, passing elbow nudges before upgrading to arm slaps as a means to fill the silence. Axel managed to dodge an incoming arm punch and made a grab for Roxas' wrists, holding them so that the shorter male couldn't attack him again. He

"So, tell me. Were you really mad, or was that just to save face?"

Roxas raised a brow. "Hmm, let's see... I specifically told you that I didn't want to make a big public spectacle out of our - whatever we are - and yet while I was trying to meet and greet some of 3D's fans, you decided to kiss me. You fill in the blanks." Roxas grouched as he struggled to get free.

He sucked his teeth as the grip only seemed to get stronger.

"Well, you don't seem very mad to me." Axel moved closer as though if he zoomed in on the man's face, he could spot something that would go against Roxas' words. "Compared to the time I slapped your ass in the cafeteria, the retaliation seems really low on the 'Axel Ass Whooping' Scale."

"Could have something to do with the fact, that if I ran you over with my car like I really wanted to I'd go to jail. And God knows I don't want my legacy to be boiled down to some poorly written Law and Order episode where I'm portrayed as some effeminate jackass." Roxas let out a sigh as Axel's lips raised in an amused smirk at the off-topic rant. Roxas shook himself out of the distracted thoughts. He narrowed his eyes at the larger musician.

"I don't know why I thought someone who is about as subtle as a grizzly bear in a tu-tu doing ballet in the middle of Toys R Us during Black Friday, could possibly keep quiet. Seriously, I wouldn't be surprised if the entirety of the fucking Playboy Manor didn't think we were together, by now. I've never met anyone who was so inexplicably talented at defeating a purpose." Roxas scolded. The frown lines on his face deepening.

He truly was annoyed with the taller male. All Roxas wanted was to avoid the prying questions regarding his sexuality and relationship with Axel. Unfortunately, the questions only grew in volume as Axel upped his antics. Rumors and speculation were flooding the band's social networking accounts. He'd known that with the growing amount of time he and Axel spent together, the pot of gossip would begin to boil. He just hadn't counted on Axel being the primary fuel for the flames.

It wasn't just a matter of avoiding drama but also so that he and the band could build a name of their own merit. He didn't want to be 'the guy that's screwing the lead singer of Re:Coded'.

(Not that there was any screwing going on. A little threat regarding a wine cork and parts of Axel's most intimate bits of Anatomy had nipped that in the bud quite effectively.)

Axel paused and frowned thoughtfully at his captive's words. Roxas took advantage of the lax in the hold in order to snatch his wrists and spun away from Axel with a sneer.

"Asshead." Axel grumbled half at the sudden absence of skin beneath his hands and half at the cocky smile Roxas was giving him.

Before the Roxas could turn back and enact his revenge on the pesky older male, he felt a warm weight wrap around his middle and a chin rest itself in the nest of blond spikes on his head. He froze in place. Underneath the grimy smell of the club and sweat and nature, lie a scent reminiscent of the fresh wisps that danced from a newly blown out candle. Distinctly Axel. His heart began doing an impression of a prisoner slamming against bars, begging for release. He could almost swear it was audible. Axel's chin moved from his head to his shoulder. Roxas was curious as to how the man managed to bend so far down.

"I'm sorry." Axel apologized, his breath ghosted over Roxas' ear.

Roxas did a double-take. "Hold on, I think I've contracted a second-hand high from those stoners we ran past earlier. Care to repeat that?"

"I said: I'm sorry. There's a method to this whole: "courting" madness you put in place and I overdid it again, so, I'm sorry."

"And how much internal damage did admitting that do?" Roxas asked, biting back a smile.

"72% of my dignity and 74.9% of my ego" Axel sighed. Roxas shivered slightly as the warm air blew over his neck. "But you know, this back hug almost makes up for it, so..." The redhead trailed off. Roxas felt his lips graze his neck.

In response, the blonde rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time and elbowed Axel, causing him to double over and let go. Small waves of regret dancing along the goosebumps that formed along his arms. His body instantly missing the additional body heat.

"And it's the last you'll be getting for a while."

"Aw! But I'm the one who got you this gig in the first place. I even performed with you. That has to count for something." Axel whined.

"Yeah, and we see where taking those favors got me. Maybe if you could get the jealousy in check -"

"Hold on there, Jethro. Jealousy? Me, jealous?" Axel pointed to himself, looking both offended and confused.

"Yes, you, jealous. I saw the way you were pouting every time someone complimented me. You looked like someone nuked your puppy."

Axel let out an indignant laugh. "That was not jealousy, Kid. That was me expressing my general disgust for the chicks that were undressing you with their eyes."

"General disgust? Why? Because only you're allowed to do it when you think I'm not looking?" The words came out as half a laugh.

"Ye- No. Shut up." Axel stammered, suddenly caught off-guard.

Okay. So maybe he did need a lesson or two in subtlety.

Axel did his best to fight down the impending splotches of color that were threatening to cover his face. Roxas raised a brow and gave the man his best 'you ain't foolin' me' smile before taking a couple of steps toward him. Axel stayed still, not sure if he should get ready to duck a fist or block a knee to the groin. Instead, Roxas reached up and grabbed the redhead by the back of the neck and pulled him downwards, placing a chaste kiss on his lips. Before Axel's brain could get out of 'Defend Vital Organs Mode' the kiss was over.

"Quit being a little Fuckcrumb all of the time and maybe, just maybe," Roxas pulled back a little as Axel tried to go in for another kiss. "_this_ could happen more often."

The blonde donned a mischievous air before he lightly thumped Axel right in the red mark in the center of his face. Axel hissed lightly and jerked backwards in pain.

"Revenge, motherfucker." Roxas informed him with a sly smile before he shoved his hands into his pocket, turned on his heel, and continued to make his way back to the club that the two had run out of earlier.

Axel followed behind the shorter male at a slower pace. Gently rubbing his tender forehead. He was pretty sure that in about an hour he was going to look like some sort of mutated unicorn. He looked over at Roxas, allowing his eyes to trace over the younger man's silhouette.

In the month since their rooftop rendezvous, the generalized hate between the two had quickly dissipated. Turning into a fragile friendship with sporadic bouts fd kissing, healthy amounts of grumping and an abundance of (for the most part) harmless fighting.

But with all of that, came Roxas' growing ability to see right through him and the jury was still out on how he felt about that. Axel had gone into this thing with his usual "Hit it and Quit it" plan. But Roxas, who had nearly tossed the redhead off of the roof after Axel's hands had gone into forbidden territory that night they first kissed, had (violently) set up boundaries right then and there. Boundaries, that no matter how hard Axel tried, were impossible to limbo under or jump over.

He inwardly sighed as they stepped back into the now audience-empty club. There was something at war in the back of his mind. Something that told him that while being near Roxas felt absolutely amazing, if he continued... Axel was fucked.

* * *

"You're dipping french fries in ice cream. Doesn't that violate some kind of general rule of human decency?" Riku asked. His nose scrunched up in obvious disapproval of his dinner mate's dining choices.

"Are you kidding me? _This_ is the closet that any human will ever get to seeing Heaven. It's So Wrong, It's Right."

Sora replied as he popped a a fry, with an exceptionally large amount of vanilla ice cream on it's golden yellow frame, into his mouth

"Ugh, long live the Reckless and the Brave." Riku replied, still frowning.

Sora smirked up at his friend. "Thought I could trip you up with an album title."

Riku scoffed. "You'll have to try harder than that, Goofball."

Sora flicked a crumb at the man sitting across from him with a grin.

The two were sitting in a relatively nice 24 hour restaurant awaiting their friends. They had finished packing up the instruments and at Xion and Demyx's request, the group had decided to celebrate Dream. Drop. Distance's successful show with a meal. Sora had "somehow" found himself riding with Riku as Xion's van, which held the body of three twenty-something males as well as their instruments, left him no space. Xion and the others were at least ten minutes behind them as they had to stop for gas. Sora was actually thankful for the delay. He very much enjoyed the solo time with Riku. Not to mention, he needed the time to gather his thoughts.

Tonight may have been Dream. Drop. Distance's first real performance in years, but for Sora, it was also a mark for something else. And the very thought of it made the brunettes insides start to clump together in a knot and start a slow climb to his throat.

"Speaking of recklessness, how big do you think that lump on Axel's forehead is going to get?" Riku asked thoughtfully as he tended to his own appetizer.

Sora shrugged. "Not sure. But if I were you, I'd get a picture of him when the bruise looks the grossest. Blackmail is always handy."

Riku's eyebrows flew upwards. "Not a bad idea. Pretty devious coming from you."

"With influences like Xion and Kairi, it'd be alarming if something didn't rub off on me." Sora replied.

Riku nodded shortly as he quickly snatched a fry out of Sora's basket. He easily avoided getting his hand slapped as he popped the fry into his mouth with a grin. The brunette was fast but Riku was a smidge faster. Sora made a face at the bassist as he protectively pulled his food closer to himself.

"So, speaking of Xion and Roxas. You ready for tonight?"

Sora's jaw stopped working mid-chew. He kept his eyes focused on the basket of fries in front of him. The food in his mouth suddenly felt like glue. Riku let out a small hum.

"I'll take that impression of a deer in headlights, as a no."

The brunette swallowed his mouthful of food and adopted a doleful face.

"You don't have to go through with it tonight, you know." Riku added as Sora's face continued to fall.

Sora shook his head vehemently. He was ready for this. After a month of sneaking around "Madame Allinyabusiness" (as Demyx had dubbed Xion) to go to LGBT meetings and talking with Riku, he _was_ ready. He was tired of hiding and he knew the quicker he put the truth out there, the better he'd feel. Sora let out a small sigh as he nibbled on the end of the fry in his hand.

"It's a heavy conversation. I barely have _basic_ interactions down and here I am trying to organize a conversation like this." Sora pouted.

He was soon drawn from his bit of turmoil as he felt a hand nestle into his hair. He looked up and met a warm aquamarine gaze.

"It's just Xion and Roxas. You've got this."

Sora nodded lightly. "Yeah. Guess you're right." His voice was low and the very essence of uncertainty.

Riku ruffled Sora's hair before removing his hand and stealing another fry and dipping it into Sora's ice cream. "Scientific Fact: I'm right approximately 98% of the time." He said, before cautiously placing it into his mouth.

"What about the other 2%?" Sora asked, amused.

"Well, this one time, I met this blonde and redhead and said: 'There's no way they can be as crazy as everyone says they are.' and another time I thought: 'French Fries and ice cream couldn't possibly live together in harmony.' I was incredibly wrong on both accounts."

Sora let out a laugh and the two exchanged smiles. The brunette felt himself being sucked into the kind expression. Those mental hiccups that so commonly caused his thoughts to stutter when he first befriended Riku, made themselves known again. Sora easily thought of the bassist to be one of his closest friends, despite the short span of time they'd been hanging out. Being around the fellow musician was just simple. Talking to him was incredibly easy. And being attracted to the guy was -

"You know, you make it really easy to steal your food." Riku spoke up, breaking Sora's chain of thought.

The brunette's head shot up to find Riku dipping three fries into Sora's ice cream. "Hey!"

"Not my fault you zoned out. Survival of the Quickest."

Sora's brow knitted together. "I thought it was Survival of the Fittest."

Riku reached out and snatched up four more fries. Sora's verbal protests and hand-swatting were both easily ignored.

"Nope. Quickest."

Sora was ready to retaliate and go for Riku's plate when his plan was diverted when a cacophony of familiar laughter wafted towards them. The two looked up to find Xion, Demyx and Axel holding their sides. A very unimpressed Roxas leading the way as they made their way to the table.

Roxas plopped down in a chair next to his brother. "I need to seriously re-think my reasoning for deciding to fraternize with other humans." His voice was cold and hard. Sora placed a protective hand on his brother's shoulder.

Sora gave his best impression of a glare over at the other three as they took a place at the table. "What did you guys do this time?"

"Don't look at me." Xion giggled. She looked down the table at Demyx.

Demyx looked over at Axel before he put his head down, his shoulders shaking violently. Sora blinked, unable to tell if the sounds the man made indicated that he was choking or laughing or both. Axel had his arms folded over his chest. There was a shit-eating grin on his lips. He sat forward and made eye contact with Roxas before he uttered three words.

"Little Mermaid Boxers."

Riku's forehead furrowed in confusion as Sora's face went completely blank. He turned to his brother, unable to miss the twitch that afflicted his right eye.

"How?" Sora squeaked.

Xion smothered her laugh with a short cough. "Axel pantsed Roxas in front of about five cars at the gas station. Effectively getting us banned from ever going there ever again." She turned to face the smug redhead. "He now owes me about ten bucks because I hadn't even finished filling up my tank before I heard yelling, cursing and cop threats."

Riku covered his face. Obviously trying to use his fingers to keep his lips from forming a smile. He turned to the disgruntled blonde.

"Rox, Why do you own -"

"They were a gift, Riku." Roxas answered sharply, cutting off the question.

"Let's just...Maybe we should order food now?" Sora offered.

The brunette knew it was only a matter of time before the tension and glaring contest between his brother and Axel turned into a verbal fight. The two were getting incredibly good at getting them kicked out or banned from places. This new gas station incident was just a new one to tack onto the list.

"Great idea, Sora." Xion agreed as she stuck a menu under Roxas' nose.

Roxas reached to take it, stopping short. His lips pursed as he noticed that there was a cartoon depiction of a mermaid adorning it. Above it, the name of the restaurant, 'Under the Sea', in bold blue letters. It was then that they all realized something that had gone completely over their heads before.

This was seafood place.

Mermaids were the mascot.

And '_Kiss the Girl_' was playing in the background.

This was officially the _most _fucktastic day the lead singer had ever experienced.

"This is some Capital Fuckery." Roxas grumbled sourly as he snatched the menu from the already giggling woman.

The entire table, not at all oblivious to the irony, erupted into laughter involuntarily.

Roxas' sour disposition lasted until they were well into their meal. But after Axel started beat-boxing while Demyx rapped and sang an impromptu song about Zombies Twerking in the Grand Canyon, it was near impossible to hold in his laughter. The night wore on in a similar manner. They received a record number dirty looks from some of the nearby patrons and some of the wait-staff for their rambunctious behavior and Axel's extremely loud and continuous dropping of the F-bomb.

Through the laughter, however, Roxas noticed his brother being to act a bit suspicious. His shoulder's progressively got more tense. His laughs became more of a forced staccato and ended more abruptly. A line of worry had settled into his forehead. The blonde caught Xion's eye who, in turn, shrugged. She'd obviously picked up on Sora's change as well and was just as clueless as Roxas was.

Some time passed and the table was abuzz with steady conversation when Roxas thought to take his chance. He gingerly nudged his brother with his elbow. Sora jerked sideways with a startled squawk, in response. His arm bumped against the table making all of the dishes clatter.

"Whoa, Sor. Chill. It was a nudge, not a gunshot. You okay?" Roxas asked.

Sora looked around wide-eyed. The entire table was now focused on him. Their faces were transfixed with a variation of worry. He could physically feel the saliva in his mouth evaporate. He looked over at Riku who just gave him an encouraging nod. The brunette looked heavenward and blew out something between a breath and a silent prayer before he looked back to his friends.

"Actually, I'm not." Sora started quietly.

The rest of the table leaned in simultaneously. He probably would have laughed if he didn't feel like upchucking his entire dinner before hauling ass out of there.

"I have something I need to tell you guys." He said. The sentence ending with an upward inflection making it sound more like a question.

"Oh, God. You got someone pregnant, didn't you?" Demyx asked.

Axel choked on the soda he was sucking up through a straw. Xion made a small snort in an effort to not laugh and Roxas rolled his eyes. The moment of seriousness effectively ruined. Sora turned to the disruptive drummer, glowering.

"Yes, Demyx. Your mom's five weeks pregnant. You should call to check-in. From now on, just call me Daddy." Sora answered with a dull tone and straight face. Annoyance had taken over his nerves.

Demyx stopped laughing and donned a horrified look. Axel and Roxas were both turning red and giggling. Riku smiled proudly and Xion squeaked and bit down on her index finger to control her urge to laugh.

"Looks like someone's wearing Roxas' Sassy Panties." Axel snorted. "Nice to know they're staying warm while Sebastian takes up shop on Roxas'-"

"Finish that sentence and die, Fuckstick." Roxas threatened.

"I'm so fucking done with you guys." Xion mumbled before speaking up, drowning out the impending battle. "Sora, please carry on with what you were saying earlier."

Sora cleared his throat and turned to his brother. "Right. Well, um. A couple of weeks ago, Roxas, you and Xion noticed that I was keeping something from you guys." He met his brother's gaze, briefly. Roxas gave a supportive nod. He caught Xion's reciprocated acknowledgement from the corner of his eye. "Well, I-I wasn't really... ready to tell you then. I mean, _I _didn't even know what was going on. And I'm really thankful that you guys didn't try to push me too much and gave me my space. But now, I'm ready to tell the truth." He looked up and everyone had their eyes on him. The liquid that had left his mouth had obviously decided to show itself on his palms in the form of sweat. He wiped them on the thigh of his jeans. He kept his eyes down cast before he opened his mouth again. "And the truth is, I'm bisexual."

Sora looked up nervously, not sure what he was expecting to happen now. It was out there. He'd done it. And even without their response, it lessened the thudding of his heart and his shaking hands.

"Well, duh. I could have told you that." Xion broke the silence.

Sora's mouth fell open. He blinked hard before he turned to the dark-haired woman with astonishment written on his face.

"Sorry, Sor, but I'm with Xion. I kind of already knew." Roxas added.

Now, wait one Diddly-Darn minute.

"What do you guys mean you knew?" Sora asked, his eyes darting between the two.

"Well, despite what you may think, you're actually quite obvious." Xion explained. "Especially after you broke up with Kai. It was apparent you had other interests, you know what I mean? I'm just really glad you finally realized it on your own."

Sora's jaw was hanging. He looked to his brother who just shrugged and gave him a smile.

"Honestly, Bro, I have no clue what you were so nervous about. I mean, did you think I was going to disown you or something. That I'd shout: Go full Gay or Go Home? I don't care who you're attracted to because at the end of the day, you're still my brother...as long as it's not Demyx's mom. I'd have to shut that shit down."

Sora stared at his brother for a full thirty seconds before he started laughing. The rest of the table joined in. Sora, despite knowing how his twin felt about Public Displays of Affection, flung his arms around Roxas in a bear hug. He wasn't completely sure but he may have heard a rib ot two crack, but he couldn't be bothered with something like that at the moment. He was euphoric. Everything that had been weighing his shoulders down, floated away. Roxas had a point. In retrospect, at least. He really had no reason to be afraid. He pretty much had the best support system any person could ever ask for. He looked up and made eye contact with Riku who just smiled and gave him a reassuring wink. No, forget 'pretty much'. He most definitely had the best support system that anyone could ever ask for.

The rest of their night went smoothly. After more dirty looks from the staff, the group decided to pay and leave. The group decided to change up car members since Axel and Riku shared a room, they'd ride back to campus together. Demyx didn't really care either way. On the way back to the parking lot, Riku and Sora lagged behind the rest.

"Told you so." Riku said simply.

"Yeah, yeah." Sora replied playfully. "Thanks, Riku."

Riku looked over in surprise. "Why are you thanking me? You did all of the work."

"Well, yeah. But I don't think I would have had the courage to get to this point without your help."

Riku shrugged. "I didn't do much."

"But it was enough." Sora answered him. His voice coming out softer than he expected it to.

Riku smiled at him. The two shared a gaze before they looked away.

"So, would this mean it'd be okay if I asked for a small favor of my own in return?" Riku asked casually.

"Hmm. I guess so." Sora shrugged.

"Sora?" Riku stopped walking briefly. Sora followed suit and tilted his head to the side in a questioning manner. "Would you mind going on a date with me next weekend?"

The brunette's face broke out into a smile. "I'd actually like that very much."

The silver-haired male beamed back. His hands fidgeting with each other, a slight pink hue creeping up his collar.

"Well, So Long, Soldier." Riku waved, taking a tentative step in the direction of his car.

"So Long, And Thanks For All The Booze." Sora answered, waving back.

The two went their separate ways to their respective cars after a lingering look. As Sora walked away, he couldn't fight the overwhelming sense of peace that was spreading throughout his body. He was grinning like an idiot. He knew that for a fact. But it was well deserved. After weeks of inner turmoil and stress, things were looking a hell of a lot better for him. He even had a date to look forward to.

* * *

Roxas wondered what sort of soul-selling process one had to go through in order to be one of those smug little shits that never seemed to go to class, never studied and never turned in a damn thing on time and still managed to get As.

Honestly, spending the rest of eternity alongside Satan, was looking like a fucking vacation next to this mid-term paper he had to write on European Literature. He sighed. At least he was only three pages away from meeting the fifteen page requirement. Three pages in three days was do-able. If he also overlooked his Anatomy mid-term he needed to study for. He let out a very undignified whimper at the prospect of studying joints and muscles when he heard a loud knock at his door.

"Oh, Roxy?" A recognizable voice sang.

"Satan?" Roxas asked, perking up.

The knob on his door turned and the door sung open to reveal Axel hanging in the doorway.

"Damn, Satan. You move fast. Hasn't even been five minutes."

Axel eyed the blonde suspiciously. Not sure of how to respond.

Roxas shook his head. "Never mind. You had to be there."

Axel continued to eye the man as he moved through the doorway, closing the door behind. "Hitting the sauce a little early, don't you think?"

"I'm drunk off of an over-abundance of Bronte, Wolfe and Wells. I'm trashed on the legacy of the imaginative, the mentally ill, and the intensely radical."

"Wow. You sound like a pretentious little fuck."

"And that's how you know I'm an English major."

Axel chuckled before walking in and plopping himself down length-wise on Roxas' bed. Roxas turned his chair to face the redhead.

"You look like shit." Roxas observed.

Axel made a non-committal noise as he let his forearm lay across his face. But Roxas was right. The lanky man's skin color was a little off. His normally tan skin a little piqued. The area underneath his eyes were dark and somewhat sunken in. And the way he threw himself onto the blonde's bed. Limbs strewn every which way, stayed wherever they landed, no matter how uncomfortable he looked. It was as if he couldn't be bothered to move them. Despite how carefree and nonchalant Axel acted normally, it was obvious to Roxas, that Hell Week was getting to him as well.

"And you have a show in three days." Roxas continued.

"And a practice with Demyx and Riku later this afternoon." Axel added.

"You're going to die from exhaustion."

"YOLO."

Roxas cringed. "If you ever say that in my presence again. I will lock you in your room and play every Taylor Swift song ever created on repeat."

Axel visibly cringed. "That's the most sadistic thing anyone has ever said to me."

"Then shut that new-age cool kid shit up." Roxas scolded. "So, what are you doing here anyway?" Roxas asked. "You sent a text saying you needed my opinion on something?"

Axel popped up in his spot on the bed reminding Roxas of a bunny subjected to copious amounts of caffeine. He gestured for the blonde to come sit near him.

"That's right! I have some lyrics I want to run by you. Since our last little collaboration went so well, I thought you'd be able to help me out again."

Roxas shrugged. Clearly interested but trying to hide it under a layer of indifference. He pulled himself from the chair and made his way over to Axel who was in the process of yanking himself upwards. He dug into his pocket, a crumpled page littered with notes and crossed out lyrics in his hand.

"Let me see." Roxas reached out and took it and examined it for a few silent minutes. "I think this part should not be here." The blonde spoke up. He pulled a pencil from behind his ear and scribbled out a couple of notes. "That way you can rest here and you won't run out of breath before you get to this line. You could probably rework the bridge completely. The second half of the chorus, from the way I hear it my head, I think there should be someone singing it with you."

"Someone like...you?"

Roxas continued to look over the paper for a moment before he paused, setting the sheet down on the bed and slowly looking up at Axel.

"You didn't need my help at all, did you?"

"Not really."

"This is just your roundabout bitchass way of asking me to record this with you, isn't it?"

"Kinda."

"And you couldn't just ask me because?"

"Being direct is only fun when sex is involved. Remember that Roxy." Axel murmured as he leaned in towards Roxas. Deliberately breathing heavily on the blonde's neck and ear.

Roxas face stayed completely blank as Axel moved in. He heaved an agitated sigh before reaching his hand behind the redhead and popping him on the back of the head.

"Down, boy."

Axel's body jerked forwards at the violent move more out of shock than actual hurt.

"You know a lot of people would kill to have me alone on their bed right now, preferably with less clothing."

"Colonel Mustard called: He wants you to get a Clue." Roxas answered as he got up from the bed. He padded towards his closet and grabbed his acoustic guitar. Digging into a nearby drawer for a pick.

"Yeah and Candy Land called. They're missing a candy cane. They have a gnawing suspicion it's up your ass." Axel shot back.

"Same place you wish you were, Thirsty Mofo." Roxas grumbled as he ambled back over to his bed.

Axel ignored the comment. Opting for an amused smile instead. Roxas plopped down and grabbed the sheet music from where he placed it. He began testing out the chords until he got familiar enough with them. He gently hummed the melody to himself.

Axel watched. Intrigued by the way the blonde deftly moved his fingers along the instrument. How quickly the male just fell into the music. It had become Axel's new favorite past-time to watch him whenever there was music involved. The blonde's constantly furrowed brow lessened. The snarl that consistently danced on his lips, fell away as they instead brought life to lyrics. It was a hard thing to not watch. Axel fought and leaned back slightly.

Of course, watching someone live and thrive through their passion was something that could easily draw in anyone. It wasn't like he was specifically drawn to Roxas' performing or anything.

_"__I'm half remembered, half way across the world__. __Twice removed from a second home__. __The shadow of a ghost in an old haunt__. __With a lease on life, 'cause I can't afford to own." _Roxas sang prompting a small smile from Axel. It went mostly unnoticed by Roxas who'd already been transplanted into the music.

_ "When being young starts getting old. A new place saves face or so I'm told. Be the new kid, on an old block. A chalk outline on a playground blacktop."_

Axel stole a glimpse over Roxas' shoulder at the sheet music. Before stealing the chorus from the blonde.

_"I'm just a moment, so don't let me pass you by. We could be a story in the morning, but we'll be a legend tonight." _The two exchanged glances. Roxas immediately realized by Axel's tone change that the redhead had opted to go for the last chorus of the song instead of the first. Roxas changed his finger positioning quickly and started in on the latter half of the chorus alongside Axel.

_"__I'm just a moment, so don't let me pass you by__. __And they can speak our names in a dead language__. __Cause you and I, we're alive__. __But just for a moment."_

Axel did not miss the the goosebumps that suddenly peppered Roxas' skin. Nor did he miss the way he looked as if he'd been caught in some mini-whirlwind of befuddlement, as his fingers stopped moving along the strings. The smaller man's eyes dropped to the sheet of paper balanced on his knees. He studied it closely before his eyes lit up with a sudden realization.

"These lyrics..." Roxas trailed off.

"Might be about you. Might have, um, written it for you." Axel answered, the words holding more of a rasp than he intended them to.

Roxas let out a whispered laugh. "Why?"

"Maybe you need a song. Maybe..._we _need a song"

Axel continued watching the guitarist. He didn't miss the way his body tensed at the word "we". The redhead watched as Roxas opened his mouth to reply. The words dying as soon as lips seemed ready to form the words.

"Axel, I can't - I'm not-" Roxas audibly searched for some way to respond.

His eyes were still scrambling over the paper. The message of the entire thing finally sinking in for him. The redhead took a chance and leaned in again for the second time that afternoon while praying to every deity he could think of, that the blond wouldn't bash his head in with the instrument in his hands.

Axel's spontaneous (and albeit not incredibly earnest) prayers were answered as Roxas not only allowed Axel to kiss him, but reciprocated it.

The redhead could easily boast that over the course of their courtship, he'd kissed the blonde dozens of times. Most of them rather tame and short or aggressive little battles of dominance. But this one...felt different to Axel. This one was slow and rhythmic. The sensations from it shot through his veins. Stinging his limbs and stirring something inexplicable in the pit of his stomach. Quite unlike anything he'd ever experienced with anyone.

His breath hitched as a hand tangled itself in his hair, Axel took the opportunity to wrap an arm around Roxas' waist. He gently bit down on the other man's bottom lip. He then took the liberty of trailing a series of small kisses along Roxas' jawline, as his hands fingered the edge of the blonde's shirt, until he reached the younger man's neck. Axel earned a uncharacteristic groan from him after he traced a long line with his tongue along Roxas' neck. The sound seemed to startle Roxas who, in response, jumped back. He only just managed to keep himself from falling off of the bed.

Roxas' face was as red as Axel's hair. Possibly a combination of both their moment and his apparent embarrassment.

"S-sorry. I-I uh..." Roxas stammered quietly with a frown.

"Roxy can't handle being a little hot and bothered?" Axel teased, huskily.

Roxas looked away, his face burning an nonhuman shade of red. He could swear he could almost hear the blonde mentally curse himself out for his reactions and subsequent voice cracking and stuttering.

"Ax?" Roxas cleared his throat quietly.

Axel perked up slightly at the sound of the nickname. He was used to "Overtly Flamboyant Goof, Jackass, and even "Piss Breath", but not "Ax."

"Uh, yeah?"

"Aren't you ever...afraid?"

Axel could do nothing to hide the obvious confusion that contorted his features. He was expecting many things to come out of the blonde a few of them being insults and death threats, but not that.

"Uh...Afraid? Of what? Lions? Falling anvils? The advances of straight women?" He finally asked, snapping out of his stupor.

"People. Being so open about _you_? Or us?" Roxas clarified, still unable to hold steady eye contact.

Axel blinked and thought for a moment. "No. I guess when I know what I want I go for it. I only have so many fucks to give in a lifetime, you know?"

Roxas mulled over his answer before nodding. "Yeah, yeah. Makes sense." He muttered, mainly to himself. "You know what, I'm going to uh, finish this paper." Roxas said. Gesturing toward his still running laptop and the Word document splayed on the screen.

Axel could take a hint. "Yeah, guess I should go meet up with Dem and Riku."

Roxas nodded.

"I'll call you later." Axel leaned over and kissed the blonde on the temple, before he stood up and left the room.

Roxas fell backwards onto the bed after he could no longer hear Axel's retreating footsteps. He closed his eyes and scrubbed them with his fingers so hard that there was an array of colored swirls blending with the darkness. It was almost safe to say he'd never been more conflicted in his life. That song was an answer to something that he'd been mulling over quite frequently as of late.

How long would Axel be willing to walk a line filled with boundaries and rules?

Roxas wasn't about to just suddenly throw his own comfort aside for the redhead. Shit just didn't fly like that with him. But if Roxas didn't try to find some compromise, if he didn't stop freaking out every single time Axel made him feel something akin to happiness...

It was so weird to him. He'd always rolled his eyes at those sappy puppy-love drunk idiots who went around professing their love for someone they'd known for such a small window of time together.

Now, he was sure this wasn't love.

No, certainly not love.

Nope. None of that going around.

But he couldn't deny that when Axel got bored with 'Barrier-Laden/Closeted Affection Only Roxas' and left, he'd regret it. He'd been sitting on a pile of that for years and he wasn't looking for any more of it.

Roxas sighed. Maybe he really did have an infection-causing stick up his ass. And maybe Axel was the antibiotics he needed.

...This metaphor didn't sound nearly as deep as he intended it to.

He absently ran his hand over the small area that Axel had bitten earlier. He was sure the Pain in the Ass had left a visible mark. Now, there was now a small but heavily weighted question dancing on the fringes of his mind as he appraised the bruised skin: Would he hide it? Or let it show? And when the inevitable questions came raining down, how would he answer them?

* * *

Axel was only half aware of his surroundings as he wandered into the practice room. His footsteps reverberated around the room as he walked. He was at least an hour and a half early. He'd been expecting to "hang" with Roxas a lot longer than he had but well, that plan had gone as well as anyone could have really expected. He slung his guitar from around his shoulders and placed it gingerly on the ground. He dropped himself down on the piano bench before he let his head fall into his hands.

If there was one talent he could claim other than music, it was lying. His lips were still burning from the deception that had eased past them earlier. He'd told Roxas he wasn't afraid but if the way his hands were shaking right now was any indication, he was terrified.

Terrified of Roxas.

Terrified of the strange mixture of butterflies and unease he encountered whenever the blonde was involved.

Terrified of the fact that he knew damn well that his simple initial plan was not going to be enough.

And with this song...

God, he wrote the kid a song. That part hadn't been a lie. But his justifications for writing it, his faux desire of lighting a fire under the blonde's barriers, were

Axel always knew exactly what he wanted from people and generally how to get it, but with Roxas the lines were muddied. Axel didn't want much. What he already had was enough. And knowing that, feeling that contentment, was what made him so eager to attain more. He needed to disappear. Even if he didn't want to. The startled, vulnerable look that had stained the man's face had nearly melted his heart.

His _heart._

"Now, _this _is some real Capital Fuckery." Axel groaned as he dropped his head again, hitting his temples with the ball of his hand.

* * *

A/N: Fun Fact: When my male best friend came out to us in our Senior Year of high school, we responded the same way. We had sort of figured it out back when we all met in 7th grade after he got up in Pre-Algebra and did all of the choreography from Shakira's Hips Don't Lie from memory. Great times, awesome guy.

Again, Guys I'm so so so sorry for the delay. I would promise that it won't take forever to bring you the next chapter but I don't like to make promises I'm not sure I can keep. Also, please don't set fire to my house for the cliffhanger.

Oh! By the way, I made a Tumblr/Back up place to store all of my stories. So, if you guys want to follow me/harass me/ make sure I'm not dead, that's an option. The link is on my author page.

Also I found out I've been using the feminine forms of "blond" and "brunet"... If I was a better woman I would go back and fix it... but I'm not so... Oops. Who needs Gender Roles, anyway, am I right? *coughs*


End file.
